Yahoo Movies Parenthood Creator Says It 'Would Be a Joy' to Revisit the Series: 'It Makes Sense'
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Parenthood could potentially return to television.
The show's creator, Jason Katims, told PEOPLE a Parenthood revival is on his mind — mostly because fans keep asking for it. In evaluating some of his series, including Friday Night Lights, Katims shared why bringing Parenthood back could be a real possibility.
"The one that people always ask me about is Parenthood for some reason. Actually, it makes sense," he shared at the L.A. premiere of Dear Edward, another series he created. "I never think about it, but when anybody asks me, I'm like, 'Oh yeah, I would like to do that.'"
Parenthood aired on NBC from 2010 to 2015 for six seasons. The concept followed different units of an extended family as they navigated life's ups and downs — from marital strife and raising children to heartbreaking life changes. The actors who were once children have since grown into adults, meaning a reboot of any kind would likely spotlight their own journey through parenthood.
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"I feel like it's interesting with that show. It's like enough time has gone by that it would be interesting to revisit it now," Katims explained. "These characters — It's almost a generation later and watching these people, watching the characters we saw in one generation, a generation later. That would be interesting."
However, there are no concrete plans to bring the show back to the screen. "But it's not like I think about it," Katims concluded. "Obviously, it would be a joy. It's going to be [a] joy because it was such a great experience, and to get to do it again with those actors would be great."
Parenthood boasted a stacked cast featuring Dax Shepard, Lauren Graham, Peter Krause, Mae Whitman, Monica Potter, Sarah Ramos, Craig T. Nelson, Erika Christensen, Sam Jaeger, Max Burkholder, Joy Bryant, Miles Heizer, Bonnie Bedelia and more. It was based on the 1989 Steve Martin-led film, directed by Ron Howard.
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One leading plotline in the series followed the childhood of Max Braverman (Max Burkholder), the Autistic child of parents Adam and Kristina Braverman (Krause and Porter). The character of Max was inspired by Katims' own child.
"In the pilot episode, or the first couple of episodes, there's a storyline where he gets asked to leave the school that he is in — this literally happened to me, concurrently, with writing the script," Katims shared on reunion panel at ATX Television Festival in 2022. "I was really on the verge of taking that story out of the pilot and out of the show. I thought maybe this is too personal and not right to tell the story. I took it out for a while and got encouraged to put it back."
He added that the show's plot continued to include "almost autobiographical elements."
At one point, the cast seemed to be on board with a reunion, too. Way back in 2015, Ramos told PEOPLE of the possibility: "Honestly, who would not want to do that? I can't think of anyone."
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In the meantime, Katims is focusing on his new Apple TV+ drama Dear Edward. Based on the 2020 novel of the same name, the series — featuring all-stars Connie Britton and Taylor Schilling in the cast — follows a 12-year-old boy after he becomes the lone survivor of a plane crash.
"What happened was I read Ann Napolitano's book, Dear Edward, and I was just very taken by it. It just was arresting and it moved me and I started to think about it. Basically, it was uncompromising. It looked at grief in a raw way," he told PEOPLE of what led to the show's creation. "But what I really was inspired by was the idea of what comes next. That was about redefining ourselves, finding connection after this event, with unexpectedly finding connection with different people in different ways. That's what really drew me to this. Ultimately, I think it's a story about resilience."
All six seasons of Parenthood are currently available to stream on Hulu, and Dear Edward premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday.
