‘Clear eyes, full hearts, can lose’: What are we doing with this Friday Night Lights reboot?

Some shows really just change you when you watch them. And that’s what Friday Night Lights did for its audience and continues to do on streaming. So why is there talk of a reboot without the original cast?

According to Deadline, Jason Katims, Pete Berg and Brian Grazer are all set to be part of this new project and it is still in the early stages. Currently, they’re taking the idea out to market. But what I don’t like about this news is that the show is rumored to be a completely new cast. That means no Eric Taylor (Chandler) and his wife Tami (Connie Britton) to remind us what love is like.

So with the news that a new story in the Friday Night Lights universe could happen, the question is: With who? Look, I love the film Friday Night Lights with Billy Bob Thorton as the head coach. But the television series really made us fall in love with the Dillon Panthers and Coach Taylor’s style. It’s great that they want to bring it back but at what cost?

As I pointed out on X, “clear eyes, full hearts, can lose” because I don’t like not having Chandler and Britton involved in this!

I understand that a fresh show would probably erase things like Landry (Jesse Plemmons) killing a man but also that’s what made shows like Friday Night Lights so special. We ignored the things that maybe didn’t make sense because we loved the characters too much. Which is why I do think that we need at least Coach Taylor back in action to even think about bringing the series back.

Why not just bring back Coach Taylor?

Chandler is busy playing Hal Jordan in the new series Lanterns but if they’re just shopping the show around, why not still have the Taylor family involved? We don’t need every character back but Coach Taylor returning to the Panthers would make a pretty great return to the series.

Then again, people probably thought negatively about the show when it came out after the success of the 2004 film from Berg. Luckily, the series proved us all wrong and is held up as one of the best shows of all time. So maybe my judgement of a “new” cast of characters is a little premature. We might end up with a great reboot show out of this.

That doesn’t change the fear that I have. And I’m not alone. A lot of fans of the show are worried about what this “reboot” could mean. Friday Night Lights is a comfort to so many and had an iconic cast! Minka Kelly, Adrianne Palicki, Jurnee Smollett, Michael B. Jordan, Taylor Kitsch, Zach Gilford, Aldis Hodge, and Matt Lauria were all part of the series as well! That line up is stacked and it is going to be hard to top.

Honestly, what would get me really excited is if you get someone like Austin, Texas born Glen Powell to star in it but also I know that is a very me request. Still, I do hope we return to Friday Night Lights. I just will miss my Taylor family if it is filled with all new characters.