The Party of Five reboot has gotten its series order and will be immigration-themed. The new series has been in the works since early last year when Freeform, the network formerly known as ABC Family, announced that they would be picking it up. Since that time, news on the reboot of the one-time highly popular 1990’s Fox drama series has been rather quiet.
Based around the lives of the four Salinger children - and their infant brother - after their parents are killed in a car accident - Charlie (Matthew Fox), Bailey (Scott Wolf), Julia (Neve Campbell) and Claudia (Lacey Chabert), Party of Five ran on Fox from 1994-2000, during the heyday of similar TV shows like Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place. Though it lacked the intended glamor of the aforementioned dramas, Party of Five wore its heart on its sleeve and found a captive audience in both teenagers and adults alike. With both Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place having been rebooted over the years, it was only a matter of time before Party of Five joined their ranks and brought audiences something familiar yet new.
According to EW, the new Party of Five series is on its way, with a 10-episode order from Freeform. This time around however, the series will focus on the timely issue of immigration. Instead of the orphans of the Salinger family, the rebooted Party of Five will deal with the five children of the Acosta family, who are forced to navigate life when their parents are deported to Mexico. The new series comes from the original Party of Five creators, Amy Lippman and Chris Keyser and as Freeform president Tom Ascheim explained:
The rebooted children of the Acosta family are Emilio (Brandon Larracuente – 13 Reasons Why), Lucia (Emily Tosta – Mayans M.C.), Beto (Nico Guardado – The Goldbergs) and Valentina (Elle Paris Legaspi – Vida). As of this writing it does not look as though any of the original cast will be returning, though whether or not that could change in the future remains unknown. Since the original days of Party of Five, the primary cast has taken on a variety of roles, though the most successful of the alums is arguably Neve Campbell, who’s a well-known component of the Scream film series and was most recently paired with Dwayne Johnson in Skyscraper. Should this rebooted series of Party of Five take hold with audiences, perhaps the likelihood of seeing any of the original cast will increase, though of course, this is pure speculation. The most encouraging bit of information that fans of the original series can consider in terms of the casting is that to date, Freeform has not officially denied the possibility of a return of any of the Salingers at some point.
“Party of Five embodies the heart and soul of what it means to be a family in the most trying of times. We’re so lucky that Freeform gets to be the home for this reimagined story, as we continue to represent the resilience of young adults and the importance of fighting for your voice in times of doubt. We are thrilled to be able to share the groundbreaking storytelling from Amy and Chris with a new audience, and are excited for our viewers to discover the beauty of this series.”
With the current political climate what it is and issues of immigration regularly coming to light, there has possibly never been a more appropriate time for a dramatic series that deals with the human, day to day effects of immigration. What’s more, the fact that the series is willing to lay its focus on people of color is another step in the right direction for an industry that has frequently been criticized for doing exactly the opposite. And of course, the fact that this newly rebooted version of Party of Five is written by its original creators could potentially bode well for this fresh start.
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Source: EW
