In an effort to respect the victims of the Parkland school shooting, the Paramount Network has decided to postpone its reboot of Heathers until later this year , according to Entertainment Weekly .
In a statement given by Paramount Network, formerly Spike TV, executives explain that the move to temporarily pause the premiere — set to initially air March 7 — does not take away from their firm stance of the show doing well once it hits TV screens.
“Paramount Network’s original series Heathers is a satirical comedy that takes creative risks in dealing with many of society’s most challenging subjects ranging from personal identity to race and socio-economic status to gun violence,” they say.
“While we stand firmly behind the show, in light of the recent tragic events in Florida and out of respect for the victims, their families and loved ones, we feel the right thing to do is delay the premiere until later this year.”
Based on the ’80s movie of the same name, Heathers sees two high school sweethearts come together to exact revenge on their classmates; but most specifically, a trio of popular girls all named Heather. In the updated take, not only are the outsiders the “Heathers,” one of them is a gender-queer male (Brendan Scannell) whose real name is Heath. Rounding out the trio of Heathers are actors Jasmine Matthews and Melanie Field.
Several students meet their doom in the original Heathers , including some by gun violence. It is unsure just how closely the two (the TV show and original movie) mirror one another, but apparently, the Paramount Network isn’t taking any chances when it comes to possibly offending viewers.
Paramount has delayed the premiere of its ‘Heathers’ TV reboot because of the Parkland… https://t.co/LkvSGYCZmG
— Buyers Cloud (@buyerscloud) February 28, 2018
Original cast member Shannen Doherty also appears in the pilot in a pivotal role, which was directed by Leslye Headland and written by showrunner Jason Micallef.
Interestingly, no official air date was given for the updated airing, and its New York premiere, set for March 6, was also canceled by Paramount. The pilot episode has reportedly been available for viewing on several cable on-demand networks. The red band trailer for Heathers can be seen below (be advised that it is NSFW).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B85lYenaxE
