There’s A ‘Martin’ Prequel Drama Series In Works
People are still talking about the Martin cast reunion from this year’s Emmy Awards in January. It completely tapped into ’90s sitcom nostalgia. And now there’s some exciting news about the show. A Martin prequel is in the works from Martin Lawrence and his production company, RunTelDat, in collaboration with Marvin Peart’s WonderHill Studios.
Deadline reported that the hour-long Young Martin, a drama series, is a “contemporary origin story” centering on Martin Payne, a “charismatic teenager navigating the complexities of transitioning from youth to adulthood.” They added, “It reimagines the character played by Lawrence on Martin, paying homage to the original show, which aired on Fox from 1992-97.” The new show will be set in modern-day Detroit.
Executive producing Young Martin are Lawrence, Rae Proctor, Robert Lawrence and Stacy Lyles from RunTelDat, with Bob Yari, David McPherson, Rosa Peart, Greg Martin for WonderHill Studios.
“Out of all the hit shows during the ’90s, there was only one Martin — a show that defined culture and positivity. Martin reflected a real group of friends from our community that wound up on TV screens all over the world,” WonderHill CEO Marvin Peart told the outlet.
“I respected and revered Martin Lawrence for creating Martin Payne and what he did for African Americans on television in front and behind the camera. In many ways, he influenced my path in the entertainment industry and it’s an honor to partner with Martin and his younger self and share him with the next generation of fans.”
This transition from comedy to drama would be similar to the move made by The Fresh Prince-Air, the sitcom that starred Will Smith. The show was rebooted as Bel-Air, which was a more dramatic take on the story that featured reimagined versions of the same characters from the original.
Some fans are excited about the show that’s in the works. “Good news is, between this and Bel-Air, we’ll now have young castings for both Martin Lawrence and Will Smith, so we can start cranking out Bad Boys prequels like there’s no tomorrow!” someone shared on social media.
Another person said, “Seems that Young Sheldon has kicked off a whole genre of ‘Young [established character]’ tv series.”
One person jokingly referenced the character of Tommy, writing, “Hopefully we can solve TV’s biggest mysteries… What is Tommy’s job?!”
There’s no premiere date for Young Martin yet. Here’s to hoping for more details to come.
