If that headline made you tilt your head like a dog hearing a weird sound, you are not alone. Mine did the same. Yes, “The Suicide Squad” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn tweeted (via CBR) in response to a question about rebooting classic TV series, saying that he and David Hasselhoff had discussed doing a modern continuation of the 1982 series “Knight Rider.”
He said, “My friend [David Hasselhoff] and I have discussed doing a modern continuation of Knight Rider many times. The primary hurdle has been there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the cool things I want to do!”
My friend @DavidHasselhoff and I have discussed doing a modern continuation of Knight Rider many times. The primary hurdle has been there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the cool things I want to do! https://t.co/Gy24aG4hzc
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 1, 2022
Now, I love James Gunn. His work never fails to make me happy. You have to love David Hasselhoff as well. He’s very self-effacing and seems like he’d be great to have a beer with, but … why though? How could you make this work in 2022? I’m still not sure how they made it work back then and I watched it! I was very little, so nothing really made sense back then, but even as a tiny child I knew it was a weird show. Fun, but weird.
If you’re younger than I am, let me explain exactly what “Knight Rider” was. The story was that a police detective lieutenant Michael Arthur Long (David Hasselhoff) was shot in the face, but got plastic surgery and the name Michael Knight. (That was a big thing in the ’80s. Surgery to make you better and stronger and look like someone like David Hasselhoff.) He was given a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am called Knight Industries Two Thousand (K.I.T.T.). K.I.T.T. was a sentient car with a sort of Cylon red light that moved back and forth to indicate he was alive. Together they fought crime. I did not make this up.
That Intro Music Though!
The NBC series ran from 1982-1986. Here is the intro for the series: “Knight Rider, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless in a world of criminals who operate above the law.”
K.I.T.T. had a fancy dashboard (which you can see in the video) with lots of blinking lights, and was very witty. Every kid wanted that car back then. There were TV films like “Knight Rider 2000” and “Knight Rider 2010,” and a 2008 series as well. It’s just very, very dated. Look at all the gadgets we have in our cars now and compare that to K.I.T.T.’s dashboard. Heck, look at our phones!
That said, I do trust in James Gunn. I know he says there aren’t enough hours in the day to do the cool stuff he wants to do, but if fans really started clamoring for it, I’m sure it could happen. Gunn, of course, worked with Hasselhoff in the second “Guardians of the Galaxy” film when Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), who was a fan of “Knight Rider,” sees him as a version of his father Ego (Kurt Russell).
FYI, Justin Lin (“The Fast and the Furious” franchise) was attached to a digital series for a while, and a film was announced in 2020 with no director set.
Go watch the video again and rock out to that synthesizer music. Okay, fine. James Gunn, do the show, just so I can hear that music.