Watch trailer for TV remake of Winona Ryder comedy Heathers
The cult classic starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater has been re-imagined for the small screen and the results look, erm, interesting?
The world has moved on in the three decades since Michael Lehmann’s cult black comedy Heathers. In that 1988 teen movie, a clique of croquet-playing rich girls named Heather rule the roost at their high-school, and look on their misfit and weirdo classmates with disdain. They soon get their comeuppance, however, when Veronica (Winona Ryder) breaks rank from her bitchy friends and finds herself on a murder spree with the school’s nihilistic bad boy (played by Christian Slater).
In 2018, however, kids who don’t conform to social norms are no longer the outcasts, and this is reflected in the brash new small screen adaptation of Lehmann’s much-loved film. Instead of three preppy rich girls who are barely distinguishable from one another, the trio of toxic Heathers at the heart of the TV show are much more varied. “The idea is that power corrupts and that everyone is, at their core, an asshole and concerned for themselves,’ explains Brendan Scannell, who plays the show's genderqueer Heather.
“In the movie, three beautiful women were wreaking havoc on the school; that was new and hadn’t been done before. Our modern retelling centres around marginalised communities – a plus-size girl, a black girl, and a queer – trashing everyone around them.”
Despite the flip in the characters, the show looks to be similarly brutal as the film. And from the trailer, it looks like we’re in for something that’s going to court controversy. “Fat kids can be popular!?” we hear a teacher ask incredulously in reference to the plus-sized leader of the Heather clique. “The preferred term is body positive,” his more PC colleague replies. “What about the Asian kids?” he asks. “And the genderqueer?” another colleague pipes in. “Obviously the Jews and gays are over.”
Shannen Doherty, one of the original Heathers, is in the cast along with other familiar faces like Selma Blair and Casey Wilson. Take a look at the trailer in the player above or on YouTube.
Heathers launches 7 Mar on the Paramount Network in the US; the UK broadcast dates are yet to be announced