‘The Burbs’ Series Creator Says Series Was Almost a Direct Tie-In to Dante’s Classic

Season One of “The Burbs” starring Keke Palmer recently caused a scream in the neighborhood when it arrived on Peacock February 8th. A new take on Joe Dante‘s classic 1989 film starring Tom Hanks as a suburbanite who thinks his new neighbor may be a murderer, the show turned out not to be a direct tie-in to the universe created by the filmmaker. But it almost did.

In an interview at Deadline with series creator Celeste Hughey, she was asked about the series’ connections to the original film. “You know, an original idea around how I wanted to adapt it, there was a moment where I was like, ‘OK, can Carrie Fisher and Tom Hanks’ son be the same age in modern time?'”, said Hughey. “I was trying to figure out how to tie it together.”

Added Hughey, “Ultimately, it felt best to create an entirely new world with new characters, but still that echo of, it’s still called Hinkley Hills, but the street’s a different name. The facades of the houses are different, but we wanted to have that just DNA tied to it, but still not have it be of the same world. So, we had thought maybe the librarian is Bonnie Rumsfield all grown up, but we wanted to be a different character, entirely. I love that, her brainy, her brainy sister.”

Personally, I’m with Hughey on the sentiment here. The Burbs is really one of those stories that’s less about a specific neighborhood, and more about America as reflected through the suburbs. Thirty years later, it’s much more interesting to look at the country through a suburban setting from a fresh perspective.

There’s no word just yet on whether or not we’ll see another season, but Hughey sure hopes so. “I would love a Season 2, and we really wrote to continue the story. I think you’ll find that there’s a really compelling cliffhanger at the end. I think people will really attach these characters and really want to come back and hang out with them. And there’s so much more mystery to unfold in ‘The Burbs’…I really hope that Peacock gives us a second season.”

“The Burbs” also stars Julia Duffy (“Scream Queens”), Paula Pell, Jack Whitehall, Mark Proksch (“What We Do In the Shadows”), Kapil Talwalkar, () and (“Wayward Pines”).