Charlie's Angels Reboot - What We Know So Far

Thanks to success stories like Girls Trip, Bridesmaids, Hustlers, and more, studios are finally realizing that movies led by women can win big at the box office. Hollywood's next high profile, female-fronted effort will return to a classic framework with a familiar story, released nearly two decades after the franchise's first feature length film.

From a 1970s television series to two feature-length movies that hit theaters in the early 2000s, Charlie's Angels has remained a pop culture staple for decades, giving the spotlight to three powerful women who solve crimes and kick plenty of villainous butt under orders from their intermediary boss, Bosley, and the man who oversees the entire operation, the mysterious Charlie. The latest revival of this classic series will arrive on the big screen in the fall of 2019, so if you're curious about the latest iteration of Charlie's Angels, we've got all the details you need, including the release date, cast, plot, trailer, and more.

Of course, the biggest question going into the Charlie's Angels reboot is about the Angels themselves. The core three stars of the film will either make or break its success, so naturally, the trio has to complement each other perfectly — and looking at these Angels, it looks like a mix of established stars and relative newcomers that could prove to be pretty successful.

As the most recognizable name among the Angels, Kristen Stewart is leading the charge as Sabina Wilson. You probably know her best from the Twilight film series, but you might have also seen her in blockbuster fare like Snow White and the Huntsman, Oscar winners like Still Alice, and arthouse films like Clouds of Sils Maria, for which she became the first American actress to win France's Oscar equivalent, the Cesar Award. 

Naomi Scott, who plays Elena Houghlin, is no stranger to reboots; she's best known for her starring role as Princess Jasmine in the 2019 live-action version of Aladdin and also appeared in 2017's Power Rangers movie as the Pink Ranger. Finally, the trio is completed by Ella Balinska as Jane Kano, a fledgling British performer with no other high-profile projects to make her a household name stateside; but with Scott and Stewart by her side, she'll surely be a star in no time.

It's been quite a long time since the two previous Charlie's Angels movies were first released — the original came out in 2000, and its sequel, Full Throttle, came shortly after in 2003. It would be easy to assume that this film would be a full reboot of the series, but that's not the case.

The new Charlie's Angels will still find the main trio solving crimes and fighting bad guys, keeping the roots of the franchise going. Apparently, it's more of a "continuation" of the previous films rather than a full refresh. Not much is known yet about the movie's specific heists, crimes, or plots, but Charlie's agency has definitely gotten an upgrade. As Elizabeth Banks told Entertainment Weekly, "if you were rich in 1976, you only got richer. Charles Townsend is richer than ever, so he's grown the business into a global spy agency." In any case, fans of both the original films and the television series on which it was based can expect a brand new, undoubtedly exciting story starring this new generation of Angels.

In previous iterations, men have always helmed Charlie's Angels — Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts crafted the TV show, and both films were directed by McG. However, this time around, a woman is taking the wheel. Elizabeth Banks is wearing as many hats as possible in Charlie's Angels; in addition to directing, she also wrote the screenplay, is credited as a producer under the umbrella of her production company (Brownstone Productions, which she runs with her husband Max Handleman), and is, of course, playing Susan Bosley on screen. Banks, who made her directorial debut with Pitch Perfect 2, is building her directing career with films about strong women, and Charlie's Angels was clearly another perfect opportunity. 

As she told Entertainment Weekly, "It's a really exciting moment for female-driven films... Audiences are really looking for those aspirational stories about real and relatable characters, and I think the women in my movie are definitely real and relatable, but most importantly, I think they're really fun." She also wanted to make sure she portrayed the Angels as realistically as possible, noting, "It was important to me to make a movie about women working together and supporting each other, and not make a movie about their romantic entanglements or their mother they don't call enough... it felt important to do that for the Angels, to treat them with the respect their skill set demands." 

The original series may not have set much of an enduring standard for feminism, but the films that followed did an excellent job of utilizing the series' campy attitude, sense of humor, and basic plot foundation while proving that women could play action stars just as well as their male counterparts. In 2000, superstars Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, and Drew Barrymore stepped into Charlie's office as Natalie, Alex, and Dylan, respectively, alongside Bill Murray as Bosley. The film's sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, kept the original Angels but replaced Murray with Bernie Mac (apparently, he and Liu had some trouble working together, and Murray didn't exactly get along with director McG either). As an added bonus, both films featured the voice of John Forsythe, who voiced the unseen billionaire Charles Townsend in the original series, reprising his role as Charlie.

Diaz, Liu, and Barrymore are undeniably gorgeous, and the films did a good job of balancing their pride in their looks and sexuality with their strength and power. The first movie received above average reviews thanks to its fun attitude, strong leads, and stylish action sequences, as well as a strong outing at the box office. Unfortunately, Full Throttle faltered, with dismal box office returns and a bleak critical reception. Still, these two films laid excellent groundwork for a future adaptation, giving the new Charlie's Angels film a strong foundation to build upon.

This film might feature all-new stars as the Angels, but it still is inextricably linked to the 2000 film in one big way — specifically, one of its producers. On the film's official site, Drew Barrymore is listed as one of the executive producers. That makes sense for a number of reasons; not only did Barrymore play Dylan Saunders in the two previous films, but she works frequently as a producer. Through her production company, Flower Films, she produced the original Charlie's Angels films, as well as projects Barrymore starred or appeared in like Never Been Kissed, He's Just Not That Into You, the short-lived 2011 television reboot of Charlie's Angels, and Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet.

Out of the original film's three Angels, it feels exactly right that Barrymore is the one with creative input in the new film, especially considering how much influence she wielded over the first two. Her biggest contribution to the series was her strict no-guns policy, in that she wanted the Angels to show their strength without glorifying firearms. It's interesting to note, then, that the trailer for this new film features plenty of guns. In any case, fans can expect that weapons will be wielded carefully under the actress' watchful eye. 

Traditionally, the main events of Charlie's Angels, including Charlie's main offices, have been set in California — specifically, Los Angeles — and though this film likely won't dispense with this classic location, the Angels have been spotted all over the world, filming in some seriously exotic and beautiful locations.

After production officially kicked off in late 2018, eagle-eyed fans and foreign outlets caught sight of Stewart, Scott, and Balinska's Angels filming in some of the world's most beautiful and famous places. In addition to filming at the stunning Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg, Germany, the Angels were seen at Istanbul's world-famous Spice Bazaar, the ancient city's Veliefendi horse racing track, and in the Istanbul neighborhood of Sultanahmet. By the time filming wrapped up in December of 2018, the Angels had clearly traveled extensively throughout the world, which will make for some seriously gorgeous setpieces upon the film's release.