Justin Kirk Doesn't Mince Words About The Rumored Weeds Reboot
Everything's getting rebooted these days. "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" are each getting a television series mere years after their film franchises wrapped up. A new version of "Night Court" is in full swing. The Hulu series "Reboot" was a meta-comedy about making a reboot (and, sadly, was canceled too soon). Now it looks like Showtime is rebooting some of its original series — and the star of one was pretty blunt about whether or not he thought it was a good idea.
Upon news that Showtime is eying a "Weeds" reboot (which has been rumored for years), Justin Kirk, who played Andy Botwin on the long-running series — as the brother to Mary Louise Parker's Nancy Botwin — was extremely unsubtle about whether or not he thought it was a decent idea. The series would be set ten years after the original, but still, Justin Kirk isn't wild about the reboot.
"I know they were talking about it, about what it could possibly be," Kirk told Variety. "I had heard rumors of various iterations. Once, I heard about it being a prequel with younger characters, and then you just see us in flash forwards. So I have no idea. Although weirdly enough, I did recently hear of it again, so they may be trying to drag its tired carcass out."
Justin Kirk has some strong words about a Weeds reboot
""There are a million things that are claimed to be in some sort of development," he continued. "My agents haven't mentioned it to me in a long time. Maybe they're going to recast [Andy]."
Perhaps the strangest part of the idea of a "Weeds" reboot is that when the series ended with its eighth season in 2012, there was already a time jump that showed where all the Botwins and their friends ended up after their life of crime. (In case you forgot, the show opens with Nancy selling marijuana to support her two sons after the death of her husband.) After getting shot by a sniper, Nancy changes her ways and can only reflect on what she's done — so would a reboot see her return to her criminal ways?
"That is a $64,000 question," Kirk said, when asked if he would come back. "I guess we'd have to see what it was. My very favorite piece of narrative entertainment is 'Twin Peaks: The Return.' There is something exciting about seeing the people from something you were into however much older. There's something cool about that. There's got to be a story to tell, or some reason to do it. So we'll see."
What has Justin Kirk been doing since Weeds?
Contains spoilers for "Succession" Season 4 Episode 8 — "America Decides"
Fact is, Kirk has been plenty busy since he wrapped up his run as Andy Botwin, so it's entirely possible that he won't even have time to devote to a reboot. After appearing in a few episodes here and there on shows like "Wayward Pines," "You're the Worst," and "Manhattan," Kirk booked a main role on "APD" as well as one on Jim Carrey's "Kidding." Lately, though, he's been doing a ton of work over on HBO.
Kirk first appeared in "Succession" as far-right extremist Jeryd Mencken during the show's penultimate third season, but as season four — the show's last — draws to a close, he's become a much more vital character. In the eighth episode of Season 4, ironically titled "America Decides," Mencken, thanks to a premature call from the Roy family network ATN, is named the president-elect in a crucial election... and the speech he gives after ATN calls the race is deeply unsettling, in that he warns voters that democracy might not be all it's cracked up to be. Kirk also appears on HBO's "Perry Mason," upgraded from a guest in Season 1 to a main role in Season 2 as district attorney Hamilton Burger... so, he is appearing in at least one reboot of sorts.