'Herbie' Reboot: Potential TV Series in Development for Disney XD
Disney XD is reportedly working on a TV series reboot of the long-running "Herbie" franchise.
According to a report by TVLine, "Herbie" is currently being developed as a potential TV series on Disney XD, with Travis Braun serving as writer and executive producer along with Tom Burkhard and Matt Dearborn.
The reboot is also considering casting a girl or a boy to portray a character named Lili or Landon Reed as the network has yet to decide what the gender of the main character will be.
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The lead character is a "part scientist, part entrepreneur, part daredevil," whose parents disappear for some unexplained reason. Lili/Landon learns that her parents are actually working on a secret government project, which involves a talking car named Herbie.
The sentient vehicle will be the key to finding the child's parents but the task will prove challenging, with a gang of criminals also interested in getting their hands on the talking car.
Herbie's character is a Volkswagen Beetle race car widely recognized for his red, white and blue stripes and the number 53 painted on its side. The sentient car first appeared in the 1968 movie "The Love Bug." Herbie returned for a second movie, titled "Herbie Rides Again," in 1974, which was followed by the 1980 sequel "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo."
"Herbie, the Love Bug," a one-season TV series, also aired in 1982. Around fifteen years later, a 1997 TV movie titled "The Love Bug" was released, in which it was revealed that Herbie was the creation of a German engineer. In this movie, the vehicle gained sentience when a photograph of the engineer's wife got mixed into the molten metal that was used in constructing the car.
The most recent offering from the "Herbie" franchise was more than a decade ago, when the Lindsey Lohan-starred "Herbie Fully Loaded" hit theaters in 2005.
The planned "Herbie" reboot has no official premiere date yet.
