Universal Soldier to become a TV show, likely a bad one

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Remember UNIVERSAL SOLDIER? That kinda good 1992 movie with Jean Claude Van-Damme and Dolph Lundgren that inexplicably launched a franchise of pretty terrible sequels? Heck, JCVD and Dolph just wrapped a 3D reboot subtitled A NEW DIMENSION that will be released next year.

And now, after a number of crummy sequels, we’ll be getting a UNIVERSAL SOLIDER TV show. FremantleMedia, billed as Europe’s second largest TV production company, has acquired the TV rights to UNIVERSAL SOLIDER and will develop a “global television property.” Damian Kindler, “Stargate: Atlantis,” will oversee the series for the studio.

SOLDIER is Fremantle’s first foray into sci-fi or action as they mostly produce game shows like “American Idol” or “The X-Factor.” Maybe they can have a “The Real Universal Soldier” reality show where they pick the star of the TV series?

Producers claim this series will be a “bold new way” to update the UNIVERSAL SOLDIER franchise. But how does this conflict with the upcoming movie – which stars Van Damme and Lundgren – and is considering itself a bod new way to update the franchise? Does this new series take place within official UNIVERSAL SOLDIER canon? Does such a thing even exist? (It actually does and only three of the five movies are considered “canon”…)

There’s a very good chance this series will be terrible (two of the film’s sequels were actually intended to be TV pilots and even those were terrible) but do you think you’ll give it a chance?