Dynasty, the CW’s reboot of the beloved ABC sudser from the ’80s, got here to an finish Friday evening after 5 seasons. Right here, showrunner Josh Reims talks about what he actually wished to do within the collection finale, and the way odd it was that scores for the sudser had been by no means actually mentioned.
DEADLINE: Did you will have sufficient time to plan for a collection finale?
JOSH REIMS We truly deliberate a collection finale and a season finale, simply in case. We did twice the work, mainly.
Do you know you wished to finish with the marriage?
REIMS That got here up close to the tip. For some motive we stored ending seasons with weddings and we thought it might be enjoyable to do it once more. We figured Culhane (Robert C. Riley) and Nina (Felisha Terrell) had been the very best couple to do it, and we appreciated the concept of enjoying round and having viewers assume it was Sam (Rafael de la Fuente) and Steven (James Mackay), at first.
Wait, what number of seasons did you finish with the marriage?
REIMS I feel there have been like three and one within the center. So we had numerous weddings.
There have been initially calls by followers to buy the present elsewhere. Was that ever an actual chance?
REIMS Uh, no. So far as I do know, this was the ultimate goodbye to Dynasty, which is why we gave all people comfortable endings they deserved.
Richard Alan Shapiro and Esther Shapiro, who created the unique Dynasty, had been connected from the start. How concerned had been they over the course of the present?
REIMS I took over working the present in season three and sat down, I feel twice, with Esther Shapiro. I had lunch along with her a few instances and we talked in regards to the present and she or he gave me her ideas. She was very complimentary and really very similar to, you understand? Do what you assume is greatest. I’m simply gonna let you know what I feel and also you go along with that. After which as soon as COVID hit, that was the tip of our lunches. We didn’t actually talk a lot after that. We checked out it like, let’s do our personal factor. After which, by the seasons we regarded for spots the place we may honor the earlier collection. Like this season, we did an entire Cristal doppelgänger story, which was actually ripped off from the unique. So we regarded for locations to honor the unique, however nonetheless did our personal factor.
Wanting again over the past 5 seasons, what storyline are you most happy with?
REIMS The doppelgänger story! I had resisted doing it for some time, after which for some motive this season I used to be like, yeah, let’s do it. It turned out to be actually enjoyable. I appreciated doing the episodes the place we tried various things, like the place Liz [Elizabeth Gillies] may sing, as a result of she cherished to do this. There weren’t numerous limits on what we may do. I may say, ‘I wanna do a noir episode’ and they might say, ‘positive, go forward.’ I took benefit of that.
The CW
REIMS Within the finale, Steven returned. There was numerous dialogue within the room whether or not Steven ought to kill Adam (Sam Underwood) or let him go. I wished him to kill him, but it surely felt not fairly proper with the tone of the present. Deep down, I feel numerous the writers thought like he deserved to be killed and we wished to see Steven get his revenge. (Amongst different dastardly deeds, Adam drugged Steven and had him dedicated to an asylum). I wouldn’t do it in another way, however that was undoubtedly one thing that we thought-about.
Scores-wise, this present didn’t accomplish that effectively for the CW. However Netflix actually made a distinction for the collection. What was that like for you?
REIMS It’s humorous as a result of it’s the primary present I’ve ever been on or the place there was actually no dialogue in regards to the scores ever, which was nice. In season two, we shot in Paris and a few of the actors got here again and mentioned it was loopy as a result of folks confirmed as much as the set and acknowledged them on the streets. It was then that we realized that internationally, there’s a loopy fan base. So when the Netflix listings got here out and confirmed which international locations we had been primary in, we realized, ‘oh, that is a lot greater than simply the CW,’ which was good.
Wanting again, had been there numerous advertising and marketing {dollars} spent on spreading the phrase about Dynasty? Or do you assume it mattered?
REIMS I don’t assume it mattered. I feel folks had been simply ready for it to drop on Netflix. On-line, folks had been asking when’s the present beginning on Netflix. So it felt like by season three, at the least there was already a built-in viewers.
Reboots are so laborious. Would you ever do that once more?
REIMS I’d completely do it once more. This was simpler to do due to the very fact we didn’t really feel beholden to the unique. If we needed to be extra strict to what initially occurred, it could not have been as enjoyable and as straightforward. It labored out for the very best.
So does that imply you’re going to reboot The Colbys now?
REIM Precisely. Or Falcon Crest.
