Ally McBeal revival in the works with Calista Flockhart eyed to return

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

David E. Kelley's legal comedy/drama Ally McBeal was hot shit in the late '90s, and like everything else from that era, it might be due for a revival. Cue the dancing baby.

TVLine has reported that a limited-series revival of Ally McBeal is in the early stages of development and that Calista Flockhart is being eyed to return as the titular character. Ally McBeal was a lawyer working at the Boston law firm Cage and Fish, and the series followed the romantic and personal lives of the main characters, but used the legal proceedings as a plot device. David E. Kelley is expected to be involved in the revival, likely as an executive producer, but Kelley has previously hinted that he wouldn't write for the series again should it return. "I’d be open to the idea of Ally McBeal being done again, but I don’t think it should be done by me. If it were going to be done, it really should be done by a woman," Kelley told THR in 2018. "If it’s going to be new, it should be new and different. And I did it: 100 hours."

Ally McBeal aired on Fox from 1997 to 2002 for five seasons, before the studio cancelled the series due to declining ratings, but in its heyday, Ally McBeal was was all anyone could talk about and the show picked up numerous Emmy and Golden Globe Awards over its first few seasons. In addition to Calista Flockhart, the series also featured Greg Germann, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Lisa Nicole Carson, Jane Krakowski, Peter MacNicol, Gil Bellows, Portia de Rossi, Lucy Liu, and Robert Downey Jr. We've seen more than our share of revivals in recent years, some more successful than others, but as someone who never watched Ally McBeal, I can't really comment on whether the series is one that needs to return.