While he’s still looking to get the Ghostbusters back on the big screen, it seems Dan Aykroyd also wants to continue one of his other famous co-creations – The Blues Brothers** – in some fashion, though this time on the goggle box.
Variety reports that Aykroyd, along with John Belushi’s ex-wife Judy, have owned the TV rights to the characters of Jake and Elwood Blues for years, and that they’re now shopping the prospect of a Blues Brothers series around the US networks. The package so far includes a pilot script written by Aykroyd, former Saturday Night Live scribe Anne Beatts, Wayne Catania and Kieron Lafferty.
The plot will see the musically inclined pair freshly out of jail, with Elwood on the hunt for his real father. While the intention is to find new actors to play the brothers, Aykroyd will be involved as the voice of their parole officer.
After debuting on SNL in 1978, the Blues Brothers sketches became one of the earliest breakouts from the show. Elwood (Aykroyd) and Jake (John Belushi) formed a touring band and starred in 1980’s classic John Landis comedy built around them. Despite the fact that Belushi died in 1982, Aykroyd has never quite let the idea of the duo die with him. On the positive side, he spearheaded the House of Blues music venues and toured the band with Jim Belushi. On the negative side, his continuing obsession also spawned dodgy film sequel Blues Brothers 2000 in 1998 (although the silver lining there is the song How Blue Can You Get).
But because nothing can be left alone these days, it appears that if one of the US channels picks up the idea, the boys will be back. “I think these are great American characters," Judy Belushi tells Variety. "We want to keep them alive. We chose to introduce them as new characters but do it in an way that they have some history, have some life behind them." Pray the latest incarnation of their “mission from God” turns out better than the second movie…