A&E Coming Up With 'Highway to Heaven' Remake
A&E Networks, which is the home for the popular show "Duck Dynasty," is now developing a remake of the popular 1980s television series "Highway to Heaven" with Mark Wahlberg as an executive producer.
The contemporary reboot of the Michael Landon series is being written by former "Hell on Wheels" showrunner John Wirth, according to Hollywood Reporter.
The series revolves around an angel sent down to earth to help troubled souls.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Along with Wirth, Mark Wahlberg of Closest to the Hole Productions, Stephen Levinson of Leverage Entertainment, Noreen Halpern of Halfire-Core Entertainment and Wayne Lepoff of the Landon estate are the re-imagined version's executive producers.
Wahlberg is currently working on a reality television show about his family's restaurant chain Wahlburgers.
Shot entirely in California, the original version of "Highway to Heaven" ran for five seasons with 111 episodes on NBC from 1984 to 1989.
It starred Landon, who died in 1991, as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent down to earth "on probation," and his companion on earth, Mark Gordon, played by Victor French. The series centered on "assignments" given to Jonathan and Mark by God to help various troubled souls overcome their problems, such as families with sick members; encouraging rich businessmen to use their money to do good works; and promoting ethnic harmony, and so on.
Despite their personality differences, Jonathan and Mark would always support each other in the series. However, while Jonathan sought to do enough good to be able to earn his wings and, perhaps, ascend to heaven, Mark would at times seek to hinder Jonathan's mission lest he lost his good friend.
A&E was recently under fire for putting "Duck Dynasty" hero Phil Robertson on indefinite suspension for his comments against homosexuality.
The network later reversed its decision. "So after discussions with the Robertson family, as well as consulting with numerous advocacy groups, A&E has decided to resume filming Duck Dynasty later this spring with the entire Robertson family," the cable network stated Dec. 27.
The reversal came nine days after A&E announced Dec. 18 that it had "indefinitely" suspended Robertson due to his views against homosexuality in the January issue of GQ magazine.
The fifth season of "Duck Dynasty" premiered on Jan. 15.
A&E has not made any official announcement about the time it would take to complete the "Highway to Heaven" remake project.
