A couple weeks ago, Syfy made the surprising decision not to move forward with an eight episode Tremors mini-series that would see Kevin Bacon reprising the role of Valentine McKee, the monster-hunting handyman he played in the original TREMORS film back in 1990. Now a trailer for the pilot that was shot has leaked online, which seems like an attempt on the part of someone involved to drum up fan support so the show might have a chance at a different network or streaming service - or a second chance at Syfy.

The pilot was directed by SPLICE's Vincenzo Natali from a script by Ander Miller. The story is set

25 years after Valentine McKee defeated the Graboids, and the man who once seemed destined for greatness is anything but. He’s a small-town hero whose glory days faded away with the monsters he braved and whose family moved on when he couldn’t let go of the past. And yet McKee’s hoping that everything’s about to change. His grown daughter coming to visit on the heels of her graduation could signal a permanent homecoming. But no sooner than she arrives, strange and terrifying events make it clear the town is in danger. Led by McKee, the gang from Perfection begins to uncover the spine-chilling truth of what’s hunting them. With the future looking darker than ever, these small-town heroes must shake off the dust of years to see what they’re made of.

Bacon was joined in the cast by Emily Tremaine as Val's daughter Emily; John Ellison Conlee as Val's sci-fi loving, yoga-practicing best friend Harlan Maylor; Megan Ketch as returning character Mindy Sterngood (originally played by Ariana Richards), now a doctor who is also "an unanticipated threat"; Shiloh Fernandez as Nico Garza, who works in Earl's Graboid Waste Gobbling company; Toks Olagundoye as Jessica Florence, a city-chic civil engineer who has come to Perfection with plans to expand the access road; Hunter Parrish as the leader of a tribe of earth-worshipping Millenials; Ebonée Noel as the psychic Zoe; Brandon Jay McLaren as Toby, a likeable guy who nobody likes; Haley Tju as dirt-biking drug smuggler Jai; and P.J. Byrne as real estate developer Melvin, a character who was played by Robert Jayne in TREMORS, TREMORS 3, and the previous TV show. There was also a rumor that Bacon's TREMORS co-star Fred Ward might have shown up on the show as his character Earl Bassett, which would make sense since he apparently owns the "Graboid Waste Gobbling company".

The trailer for the pilot can be seen below, and it looks good to me for the most part. It seems to have the same mixture of horror and comedy the first film had, and it's cool to see Bacon as Val again after so many years. I'm not so sure what's going on with the Graboid featured in the trailer, though. It appears that the worms got a re-design here, much like they did for TREMORS 5: BLOODLINES (which carried over into TREMORS: A COLD DAY IN HELL.) It makes me wonder if it's not a coincidence that the creatures have had a new look in every Tremors project that hasn't involved the original creative team at Stampede Entertainment. (The pilot was produced by Blumhouse.)

It'd be better if the Graboid were the original design, but the trailer is fun. If you like what you see, make some noise about it and hopefully Syfy or someone else out there will notice and make the mini-series happen after all.