If ever there was a show ripe for a reimagination, it's "The Prisoner." Despite the fact that few people in the U.S. have seen it – and even fewer have fully understood it – the show's impact on pop culture has been significant, with references to the series popping up in widely viewed entities such as "The Office," "The Simpsons," "Battlestar Galactica," "Fight Club" and "Watchmen." And though it ran for a fairly generous 17 episodes, one could argue that "The Prisoner" left many viewers wanting more.

The original series debuted in the U.K. in 1967, starring Patrick McGoohan as a British spy who, after quitting his post, is whisked away to a mysterious seaside village, assigned the number 6 as his only means of identification, and subjected to a variety of schemes to extract information regarding his resignation. Keeping a watchful eye over Number Six is Number Two, a person whose position as second in command to an unseen Number One held vital importance but little job security – more than a dozen Number Twos were outwitted and outlasted by Number Six during his stay in the Village.

Most episodes featured a similar plot, with McGoohan's character trying and ultimately failing to escape from the Village. Near the end of its run, though, the series got a little weird, ending with a bizarre finale that left much up to the viewer's interpretation. And in the end, we still never really found out why McGoohan's character resigned.

The AMC version of "The Prisoner," a six-part, six-hour miniseries airing Sunday through Tuesday, Nov. 15-17, promises to be bigger, faster and -- dare we say -- better.

Not to slight McGoohan, who was coming off a successful run in the spy series "Danger Man" prior to playing Number Six, but his modern counterpart is an established film star, Jim Caviezel, whose breakthrough performance in Mel Gibson's controversial "The Passion of the Christ" helped gross more than $370 million at U.S. box offices. And rather than cast several actors in the role of Number Two, the producers here landed one really big one in Ian McKellen, the two-time Oscar nominee from "The Lord of the Rings" and "X-Men."

"First thing I said was, 'What's he doing this for? Send it to me,' " Caviezel says of McKellen's early involvement. "And, of course, I read the material, and I'm like, 'Oh, wow. I see why he's into this.' "

The material to which Caviezel refers was written by Bill Gallagher, who offers a fleshed-out yet somehow more concise version of "The Prisoner." In just six episodes, he tells a linear tale complete with back stories and a fully realized conclusion.

"You will know more about this guy's life before he got into The Village at some point," Caviezel says of his character. "They really build the relationships in this with the other characters. There's no wasted dialogue between us, either. There's always a meaning to what's going on."