'Murder, She Wrote' Reboot Might Not Have That Title, Octavia Spencer Isn't Jessica Fletcher

The 'Murder, She Wrote' Reboot Might Not Actually Be Called That
MURDER, SHE WROTE: SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST -- Pictured: Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher -- (Photo by: Randy Marcus/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
MURDER, SHE WROTE: SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST -- Pictured: Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher -- (Photo by: Randy Marcus/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

The "Murder, She Wrote" reboot with Octavia Spencer might not even be called "Murder, She Wrote." According to Deadline, NBC has been toying with title of its proposed remake starring the Oscar winner.

Deadline also reports Spencer will not be playing Jessica Fletcher. According to Deadline, former series star Angela Lansbury was in talks to be involved with the series in some capacity. Then, Lansbury told the Associated Press she thinks remaking "Murder, She Wrote" was a mistake.

"I think it's a mistake to call it 'Murder, She Wrote,'" Lansbury told AP, "because 'Murder, She Wrote' will always be about a Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people who told those lovely stories and enjoyed a piece of that place, and also enjoyed Jessica Fletcher, who is a rare and very individual kind of person ... So I'm sorry that they have to use the title 'Murder, She Wrote,' even though they have access to it and it's their right."

However, Lansbury did praise Spencer for her work in "The Help." "I saw her in 'The Help' and thought she was absolutely wonderful, a lovely actress," Lansbury said. "So I wish her well, but I wish it wasn't in 'Murder, She Wrote.'"

“I've always considered myself an armchair detective and in a recent meeting with Bob Greenblatt, he asked me what type of character would be able to lure me to TV. Naturally, I said 'J.B. Fletcher' meets 'Colombo' ... And here we are," Spencer told Deadline when the project was announced in October. “I'm ecstatic to have the opportunity to work with Dave Janollari again, and Alex Cunningham a brilliant writer who shares my love for all things mysterious and Angela Lansbury."

The official description for NBC's "Murder, She Wrote" pilot that may or may not be called "Murder, She Wrote":

This re-imagining of "Murder She Wrote" -- from "Desperate Housewives" Executive Producer Alexandra Cunningham and starring Academy-Award winner Octavia Spencer ("The Help") -- is a light, contemporary procedural, in the vein of "Bones" or "Fargo," following a hospital administrator and amateur sleuth who self-publishes her first mystery novel. Set in a day where sensational headlines inundate the news, this woman's avid fascination with true crime leads her to become an active participant in the investigations.

Head over to Deadline for more on the "Murder, She Wrote" reboot.

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