If you were around in the mid-eighties, there was a point where you couldn’t turn your head without seeing Max Headroom’s face on a television screen, Coca-Cola advertisement, or t-shirt.
If you’re unfamiliar with Max Headroom, he is the quirky, stuttering creation of George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton.
The creators presented Max Headroom as a computer-generated character, but actor Matt Frewer portrayed him by wearing prosthetic makeup, contact lenses, and a plastic suit.
Frewer sat in front of a blue screen so that animated computer graphics could be chroma keyed into the scene behind him.
Max Makes His Debut
Max Headroom made his first on-screen appearance in 1985 in the British-made television movie Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future.
Set in a not-too-distant dystopian future, the movie centered around Edison Carter, also played by Frewer, an investigative journalist for Station 23.
After Carter gets into a motorcycle accident, his brain patterns and memories are downloaded and used to create Max Headroom.
The name Max Headroom comes from a sign on a parking garage gate indicating the maximum height for vehicles passing through.
Carter attempts to ride his motorcycle under the raised gate but crashes into an exit ramp.
In 1987, ABC premiered a dramatic Max Headroom series which aired for two seasons before its cancellation in 1988.
In addition to the original movie and the dramatic series, the Max Headroom character hosted The Max Headroom Show, and The Original Max Talking Headroom Show.
Now, Max Headroom is ready to return to the public’s television screen with a new reboot.
Everything Old is New Again
According to Deadline, AMC Networks is developing the new series, and Frewer will return as the titular character.
Deadline also reports that Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah’s SpectreVision will co-produce the series with All3Media.
All3Media has owned the rights to Max Headroom since 2007.
Lisa Whalen will executive produce the show with Frewer and Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell.