Kevin Bacon shared some bad news this weekend for all of the Tremors fans out there who were excited about his upcoming television series based on the franchise: Syfy has decided to pass on the series- which was set to take place 25 years after the events of the original film- after a pilot episode was produced. Bacon took to his Instagram account to explain the news to his fans:
If you’ve felt some rumbling beneath your feet in the last few days, it may not be just those pesky earthquakes that seem to be more prevalent around the globe. On Tuesday Universal Pictures released the first official trailer for the next installment in the Tremors timeline Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell, which will be the fifth sequel to the 1990 cult favorite. The release was announced by actor Michael Gross on his main Facebook page, complete with link (see below.)
The Tremors 6 project was initially announced back in September of 2016, again on Gross’ Facebook page. Also included in the cast and joining Gross’ mainstay lead character Burt Gummer is Scream‘s Jamie Kennedy and Lost Boys: The Thirst star Tanya van Graan. In this installment, Gummer and his son Travis Welker (Kennedy) travel to Canada to investigate a series of giant worm attacks which have confounded locals. Tremors 6 was directed by Don Michael Paul, who was also involved in the most recent sequel, Tremors 5: Bloodlines.
The Tremors franchise continues to roll. With an early 2018 release for the sixth installment in the film series, Syfy’s upcoming Tremors television series is making news as well. According to Deadline, the show (which will star Hollywood heavyweight and film veteran Kevin Bacon) has signed on John Ellison Conlee (Medium, Boardwalk Empire) to the cast. He will join a project that already features Shiloh Fernandez (Evil Dead), Toks Olagundoye (Castle) and, of course, Bacon.
Conlee will play Harlan Maylor, who is the best friend of Valentine McKee (Bacon) and his closest ally in the battle against the mutant sand creatures. Living a healthy and positive lifestyle, Harlan will be a productive counter-balance to McKee’s alcoholic haze of guns and depression as they risk their lives to secure the town of Perfection Valley, Nevada from the killer worms. Conlee brings a background of theater acting to the show as well, having starred on Broadway in the stage productions of The Full Monty and 1776, among others. SyFy is really classing up this horror-comedy franchise!
Kevin Bacon has been talking about wanting to return to the world of Tremors in the form of a television series for over a year. Based on his recent, comments it sounds like this dream will soon become reality! He recently told Screen that Syfy has ordered a pilot episode for a planned eight episode series to be produced by Bacon and Jason Blum (Insidious, Split, Whiplash).
Here’s what Bacon had to say about the development:
“We are going to do a pilot for Syfy… It’s the only character I’ve ever played that I was interested in exploring 25 years later. It is a really good movie… I don’t go back and watch my movies but because we were doing this one, I had to go back and look at it. It’s just the idea of this loser who is living a very ordinary life and has an extraordinary experience with these monsters and becomes, for a moment, a hero.”
Since the big announcement that Tremors part 6 was actually happening, horror fans everywhere have been clamoring for any new updates to feed their anticipation. Specifically, when would this film be unleashed upon the legions of hardcore Tremors fans! Well luckily, there was one star that couldn’t keep his mouth shut and had to share the big news. Michael Gross, who plays the role of Burt Gummer in the first five films in the franchise as well as the short-lived television series, announced on his Facebook page on April 28th that Tremors 6 will be released on January 30, 2018. This “leaked” news was welcomed by the horror film fanatics positively, with likes and comments in support of the announcement continuing to pile up.
The ground may be trembling under your feet again very soon. Universal 1440 Entertainment has just confirmed that Tremors 6, the latest installment in the horror comedy Tremors franchise, is currently being shot in Cape Town, South Africa, much to the delight of the faithful fans of the cult films. It has also been confirmed that Michael Gross (Family Ties) and Jamie Kennedy (Scream) are returning to reprise their roles as father-and-son hunters Burt Gummer and Travis Welker.
Of course, Gross had previously let the cat out of the bag regarding the possibility of a Tremors 6 back in September of last year. At the time, it was believed that two new Tremors projects were slated to begin (the other being a series on Amazon, which would see Kevin Bacon be involved in some capacity). However, the announcement by Universal 440 Entertainment this week is the first official acknowledgement of the sixth installment in the Tremors lineage. In the movie currently in production, Burt and Travis are working remotely when they come under attack by what is feared to be “weaponized Graboids.” The film will also star Tanya van Graan (Starship Troopers 3, Death Race: Inferno) and Greg Kriek (Momentum).
For the legions of fans of the horror movie franchise Tremors, we at HNN have some terrific news for you. Not one, but TWO big projects are currently in pre-production that will continue the story arc for the Tremors universe. As has been rumored for some time now, there will be a Tremors 6 and it will begin shooting shortly. Michael Gross, the Family Ties alum who plays hero Burt Gummer in the movie series, confirmed this news on his Facebook page on Tuesday, September 20th. This announcement was music to the ears of all hardcore followers of the campy monster movie franchise.
In an interview with Collider’s Christina Radish, Kevin Bacon reported that the long-rumored Television adaptation of Tremors is in development at Amazon. No timetable or production update was offered, but the announcement gives fans of the sand worn cult classic hope that the series will eventually “come up for air” on the streaming service.
Bacon discussed the unlikely home video and cable hit, marveling that “It did become a real classic. It was also at a time when the VHS was exploding. Movies took on a life of their own. The last thing you wanted, in that point in our industry, was to have a movie go straight to VHS. Tremors did not perform at the box office, but it did great on VHS.”