Fred Ward joins Kevin Bacon for 8-part Tremors TV series?

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Last year, SPLICE director Vincenzo Natali shot a pilot for a potential Syfy mini-series that would see Kevin Bacon returning to the role he played in the original, 1990 TREMORS film: Perfection, Nevada resident Valentine McKee.

Syfy hasn't officially announced whether or not they have given a greenlight to the Tremors mini-series, but it looks like the cat is out of the bag. On his Twitter account, director Richard Clark – a television veteran whose credits include episodes of Doctor Who, Whitechapel, and Outlander – revealed that the series is a go, he has gotten a look at the scripts, and that he is "begging to direct".

All that, plus Clark also revealed that Bacon is being joined in the cast of the eight-part mini-series by his TREMORS co-star Fred Ward, who played Val's buddy Earl Bassett (and, unlike Bacon, came back for TREMORS II: AFTERSHOCKS).

Written by Andrew Miller, the mini-series is set

25 years after Valentine McKee defeated the Graboids, and the man who once seemed destined for greatness is anything but. He’s a small-town hero whose glory days faded away with the monsters he braved and whose family moved on when he couldn’t let go of the past.

And yet McKee’s hoping that everything’s about to change. His grown daughter coming to visit on the heels of her graduation could signal a permanent homecoming. But no sooner than she arrives, strange and terrifying events make it clear the town is in danger.

Led by McKee, the gang from Perfection begins to uncover the spine-chilling truth of what’s hunting them. With the future looking darker than ever, these small-town heroes must shake off the dust of years to see what they’re made of.

Although the casting of Ward was never announced, it is known that Bacon was joined in the cast of the pilot by Emily Tremaine as Val's daughter Emily; John Ellison Conlee as Val's sci-fi loving, yoga-practicing best friend Harlan Maylor; Megan Ketch as returning character Mindy Sterngood, now a doctor who is also "an unanticipated threat"; Shiloh Fernandez as Nico Garza, who works in Earl's Graboid Waste Gobbling company; Toks Olagundoye as Jessica Florence, a city-chic civil engineer who has come to Perfection with plans to expand the access road; Hunter Parrish as the leader of a tribe of earth-worshipping Millenials; Ebonée Noel as the psychic Zoe; Brandon Jay McLaren as Toby, a likeable guy who nobody likes; Haley Tju as dirt-biking drug smuggler Jai; and P.J. Byrne as real estate developer Melvin, a character who was played by Robert Jayne in TREMORS, TREMORS 3, and the previous TV show.

Unfortunately, Bacon and Ward's TREMORS co-star Michael Gross, who went on to star in all of the TREMORS sequels, including the upcoming TREMORS: A COLD DAY IN HELL, and the short-lived 2003 Tremors TV series, has not yet been contacted about reprising the role of survivalist Burt Gummer on the mini-series.

While it will be disappointing if Gross doesn't at least have a guest appearance on the show as Burt, the chance to see Bacon and Ward battling Graboids side-by-side again would be pretty incredible.

We'll keep you updated on the Tremors mini-series as we learn more. In the meantime, you can pre-order a copy of TREMORS: A COLD DAY IN HELL, which is set to be released on May 1st, at THIS LINK.

Universal shooting 8-part TV Tremors this summer with Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward! I'm begging to direct! Scripts a lot of fun.

— Richard Clark (@rclarkie) April 18, 2018