AMC Locks Into 'Prisoner' Remake

Zap2It.com | December 19, 2006

Patrick McGoohan, 'The Prisoner'

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Get ready to meet the new No. 2 and No. 6 in early 2008

AMC is coming on board to co-producer a remake of the seminal paranoid thriller series "The Prisoner" with Sky One and Granada International.

Details on how the companies plan to update or alter the "Prisoner" formula are scarce, but the property is being presented as an hour-long drama with production between in spring 2007. The plan is to have "The Prisoner" set for a worldwide premiere in January 2008.

"'The Prisoner' redefined what was possible in the Sci-Fi/Thriller category and remains on of the most iconic classics of our time," says AMC's Executive Vice President of Programming and Production, Rob Sorcher. "AMC's new series will stay true to the conceptual and visual brilliance of the original and will provide a new generation with an understanding and appreciation of Patrick McGoohan's work."

Masterminded by writer-producer-star McGoohan, "The Prisoner" premiered in 1967 and ran for only 17 episodes. A political parable, it turn the story of a government agent who resigns and immediately finds himself drugged, kidnapped, and plunked down on an isolated island known only as The Village. Despite his protestations that he's not a number, he's becomes Number Six. Amidst escape attempts, he's interrogated by the person he believes to be in charge, the mysterious Number Two, who was played by an assortment of different actors.

The new series will be written by Bill Gallagher ("Conviction," "Clocking Off"). When rumors of the "Prisoner" first began circulating back in May, Christopher Eccleston's name was bandied about for a lead role. It's unclear if the erstwhile Dr. Who remains involved.

There have been regular attempts to mount a big screen "Prisoner," with "Batman Begins" and "The Prestige" director Christopher Nolan attached to the latest incarnation, set up at Universal.