TV
‘Fear Factor’ Getting a Reboot at Fox With a Fresh Twist
If you’ve ever wanted to eat spiders on national television for money, you might be in luck. Fox has announced that the hit TV series “Fear Factor” is returning for a new generation.
Originally hosted by Joe Rogan, “Fear Factor” aired on NBC between 2001 and 2006, and the basic idea was that contestants were tasked with overcoming their fears by doing all sorts of gross and horrifying things. In one episode, they had to literally eat horse rectum. In another, they had to bob for rings at the bottom of a tank filled with cow’s blood. Yeah. No thank you.
The original “Fear Factor” ran for six seasons, with Ludacris hosting a short-lived revival of the series back in 2017. That version of the series ended up running for just two seasons.
So what’s the new twist for this latest revival? Variety reports that “Fear Factor: The Next Chapter” will be “bigger, bolder and more daring” than the series has ever been before.
In the new reboot series, “Dropped into an unforgiving, remote location, a group of strangers will live together under one roof, and face mind-blowing stunts, harrowing challenges and a twisted game of social strategy where trust is fleeting — and fear is a weapon.”
“The reinvention piece is critical here. It’s called Fear Factor, and we’re going to take the brand name,” Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade teases. “But I think the producer’s come up with a really interesting take on it, and it’s not going to feel like the show from 20 years ago.”
“Fear Factor” is expected to return with the new FOX series in 2026. You can get yourself ready for more disgusting challenges by revisiting the original show’s craziest moments below.
Himesh Patel (Tenet, Don’t Look Up) will star opposite Danielle Deadwyler (The Woman in the Yard) in Ryan Coogler’s reboot of “The X-Files“, which has wrapped filming on the pilot.
Patel confirmed the news in a chat with The Direct, while reiterating that he and Deadwyler play new characters.
“I don’t want to say anything that’s going to get me disappeared. Needless to say, myself and Danielle Deadwyler are playing completely new characters, and we just wrapped on the pilot. If we get to do more… we’ll see where we go from there,” Patel said.
That last sentence is noteworthy, as Patel is reminding that Hulu has only ordered the pilot so far. A full series order has yet to be greenlit.
It’s a good reminder, considering that Hulu also ordered a pilot for the “Buffy: New Sunnydale” reboot that was filmed and delivered earlier this year, only for the streamer to send shockwaves when it opted not to move forward with the series.
As for “The X-Files” pilot, Sinners filmmaker Ryan Coogler writes and directs the pilot. Jennifer Yale (“The Copenhagen Test”) serves as showrunner.
Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler play two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents who form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.
Patel and Deadwyler previously co-starred together on “Station Eleven.”
Other actors who have signed on for guest roles include Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Devery Jacobs, Lochlyn Munro, Tantoo Cardinal, Joel D. Montgrand, and Sofia Grace Clifton.
“The X-Files” originally ran for nine seasons between 1993 and 2002, with two additional seasons arriving in 2016 and 2018. 218 episodes were produced in total, along with two feature films: 1998’s The X-Files: Fight the Future and 2008’s The X-Files: I Want to Believe.
Himesh Patel in “Station Eleven”
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