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• Made in '87: Rewinding to the movies, comics, games, and TV shows that define pop culture to this day
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All week long: Revisit the highlights and lowlights of 1987 with Popverse's Made in 87 week.

I would bet a reasonably large sum of money that, after the whopping success of the Ryan Coogler-directed Sinners this year, two words were on the lips of just about every executive at Warner Bros: "Lost Boys." Nearly 40 years after the vampire cult classic infected theaters all over America, the Joel Schumacher horror comedy remains a perennial favorite. And with both sharp takes on vampire mythos and nostalgia very much in these days, it's reasonable to wonder why IP-holder WB isn't dumping cash into an update.

The thing is, there's already an answer to that question. And, unfortunately, it's that they already tried.

Welcome to Made in '87 week here at Popverse, when we take a look back at one of our favorite years in pop culture history. It is, of course, the year that The Lost Boys debuted - making trenchcoats and blonde Kiefer Sutherlands cooler than they ever had been - and we figure it's a perfect opportunity to talk about the time Rob Thomas tried to adapt its horrific tale to the small screen.

Oh yes, faithful Popverse reader, that's indeed the creator of Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas, that we're talking about. And as you might guess from his previous credits, it would be WB-owned network The CW that Thomas tried to work with to craft the ambitious series. First announced by Deadline in 2016, the series went down a twisty and tumultuous road before ultimately being dropped... and if you follow us, Popverse will guide you down it.

What was the plot of The CW's Lost Boys TV show?

Horror TV fans might find some similarities between its plot and the currently-airing HBO Max show IT: Welcome to Derry. Like the Stephen King-inspired prequel, The Lost Boys TV show would take the original plot and wind the clocks back, says Deadline, with each season focused on a particular time period. Rather than the 27-year intervals we see Pennywise appearing in, though, each season of The Lost Boys would've covered one decade; an anthology that, by the end of its planned seven (!) seasons, would've spanned 70 years.

We're getting way ahead of ourselves, though. The first season of the never-aired series would've taken place during San Fransicso's Summer of Love - that is, 1967. After season 1, the show would've transitioned into a different decade (though forward or backward wasn't specified), replacing its human characters for new ones while the ageless, monstrous vampires stayed unchanged and at the series' lead.

Who was involved with The CW's Lost Boys TV show? 

But just who were the titular Lost Boys of what could have been the second-greatest vampire show ever made (sorry WB, there's no beating What We Do in the Shadows)? Well, here's where things get interesting. See, The Lost Boys TV show would've carried over some of the characters directly from the original movie, but it would've transplanted them into 1960s versions of themselves. Specifically, the Emerson family - that is, Lucy, Michael, and Sam - and vampire David would've all shifted a few years back in the timeline, along with the two Frog Sisters and Stella.

Oh, you don't recognize those last three? My fault, that's because in the original movie, the Frog Sisters were the Frog Brothers, and Stella was going by Star. Tell you what, just to keep everything extra clear, here's a list of all The Lost Boys actors (as reported by Deadline) along with their OG counterparts:

• Cheyenne Haynes as Lisa Frog, genderbent and originally played by Corey Feldman
• Dakota Shapiro as David, originally played by Kiefer Sutherland
• Del Zamor,a as Grandpa, originally played by Barnard Hughes
• Haley Tju as Cassie Frog, genderbent and originally played by Jamison Newlander
• Kiele Sanchez as Lucy Emerson, originally played by Dianne Wiest
• Medalion Rahimi as Stella, originally played by Jami Gertz and known as Star
• Rio Mangini as Sam Emerson, originally played by Corey Haim
• Tyler Posey as Michael Emerson, originally played by Jason Patric

Additionally, the series was set to add a character in Sarah Hay's Mollie, who would've been the leader of a vampire gang rival to David's. All these characters would have been working off of a script penned by series developer Rob Thomas, for a pilot to be directed by none other than Catherine Hardwicke.

As in, 'director of the original Twilight film, Catherine Hardwicke.' Don't say the CW didn't know where to look for vampire directors.

Is The Lost Boys reboot still happening?

So, with this incredible and much beloved property, a well-known series creator, and even a face viewers have associated with teen horror, Tyler Posey was Teen Wolf. Remember, the next question you might have about this series is, well, why the hell am I not watching it right now? And will there ever be a chance for me to watch it? Sorry, vampire fans, prepare for some sad news.

The above cast ended up completing a test pilot for the series; however, The CW didn't accept it as part of the 2016-2017 series. Another attempt at a pilot was made, but by this time, a different kind of bloody teen drama had been dropped into Rob Thomas's lap - the revival of Veronica Mars.

With Thomas's attention having shifted from San Francisco to Neptune, Deadline reports The CW brought in a new writer - Heather Mitchell, whose previous credits included Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and, to keep in creepy, paranormal mystery series Medium. But even that series titular psychic couldn't have foreseen what would happen to Mitchell's new vampire pilot - one that was scheduled to film at the end of 2019. 

In 1987, the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon debuted - and all our lives were changed. Watch this reunion of the original voice actors:

You guessed it - one of the biggest keys to the downfall of The Lost Boys pilot was the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down the production of its second pilot attempt in March of 2020, per Deadline again. Interestingly, reporting on the shutdown provides a teensy window into how Mitchell's draft of the pilot differs from Thomas's; in the article linked above, the show is said to be about "a mother and her Gen Z sons," which seems to indicate that the idea to set season 1 in 1967 was ditched. 

Whatever the details of the incomplete pilot, it was not accepted for The CW's next pilot season and, by September of 2021, the network announced they were no longer pursuing the series (via Deadline, of course). But is that the last we'll ever see of The Lost Boys? In this humble writer's opinion, the answer is almost certainly no.

And I'm not just saying that because of Sinners' big box office numbers. Hits like Interview with the Vampire prove there's plenty of life (er, whatever) in the vampire genre even on the small screen, but even if that weren't the case, I'd argue there's still a future out there for a Lost Boys TV series. After all, with Stranger Things wrapping on Netflix as we speak, folks who've gotten used to 80s-tinged horrors are going to need a new place to go.

Why not Santa Clara?

Get your wide-shoulder blouses and your Members-Only jackets, and go back in time with Popverse's Made in 87. Highlights include:

• How Bart Simpson was quietly toned down from being "so mean" before The Simpsons' first episode, as revealed by his long-time voice actor Nancy Cartwright
• Marvel Comics killed the X-Men in 1987 to reset the franchise - but it didn’t stick
• Why the Princess Bride’s iconic duel is an even better swordfight than you remember
• How The Golden Girls became a staple at gay bars in the 80s
• Inside Spider-Man’s chaotic 1987 bachelor party that Marvel turned into a real-life spectacle