Last year it was reported Star Trek 3 writers JD Payne and Patrick KcKay were hired to write a script for a Flash Gordon reboot that 20th Century Fox is developing. I think that this is an awesome franchise that is actually ripe for a reboot, but apparently the plan is to develop it as a sequel to the 35-year-old film, which just seems weird. But Disney did it with Tron, so maybe it could work.

This news comes from original Flash Gordon movie star Sam J. Jones during an interview with Den of Geek. When he was asked if there were any sequels planned, he said,

“That was then, but up to date now Matthew Reilly, VP of production at Fox Studios, acquired the screenplay rights to Flash Gordon last year, and he hired [Predator/ Chronicle/ Man From U.N.C.L.E producer] John Davis and his staff to write the script. They're looking to bring out a sequel actually. I met with Matt, we're in talks about that. I'm very excited. A lot of people over the years, including Stephen Sommers and Neil H Moritz, have acquired the screenplay rights, but for whatever reason they did not do a follow up on the option. So I'm very excited about it.”

The actor was then asked how he would be used in the movie, and he said,

“However they want to use me, I'm very excited. I told Matt, however he wants to use me, keep one thing in mind: whatever a younger, leading man can do, I cannot only match him, I can do more! If he does 20 pull-ups, I can do 30 pull-ups. If he can do 100 push-ups, I can do 150 push-ups. Just keep that in mind!”

It sounds like he's pretty up to date on what is going on with the project. However, it was previously reported that the "pitch goes right back to the original Raymond comic strips and sidesteps any association with the movie, and even the serials." The idea was "to reclaim Flash Gordon from his current reputation in the way that Tim Burton redirected the public conception of Batman."

Things seemed to have changed since the initial report on this project. As interesting as a sequel might be, I still think that starting from scratch on this franchise would be a better way to go. What do you think?