Jamie Lee Curtis is returning to television in a high-profile reboot of Murder, She Wrote, NBC announced today. The Academy Award-winning actress will step into the role made famous by Angela Lansbury, reviving one of the most iconic amateur sleuths in television history for a new generation.
Curtis, whose decades-long career spans horror classics like Halloween, acclaimed comedies like A Fish Called Wanda, and her recent Oscar-winning turn in Everything Everywhere All at Once, said she was both honored and humbled to carry forward a legacy that began in 1984 with Lansbury’s portrayal of mystery writer and crime-solver Jessica Fletcher.
“This isn’t about replacing Angela Lansbury,” Curtis said in a statement. “It’s about honoring what she created while giving Jessica Fletcher a new lens. In an age of true crime podcasts, social media sleuths, and digital forensics, there’s still something timeless about a woman with sharp instincts and a typewriter.”
The new Murder, She Wrote will be executive produced by Curtis herself, alongside Ryan Murphy and Alexis Martin Woodall under the 20th Television banner. According to early reports, the series will reimagine Fletcher as a retired English professor turned bestselling true crime author who helps solve modern-day mysteries in the Pacific Northwest, blending cozy procedural elements with darker contemporary themes.
NBCUniversal’s decision to reboot the beloved franchise comes amid a wave of revivals of legacy titles, though network executives emphasized this version would not be a straight remake. “This is a reinvention, not a replica,” said NBC scripted content head Lisa Katz. “We’re bringing Jessica Fletcher into a world that looks more like today — diverse, complicated, and full of secrets.”
Angela Lansbury, who died in 2022 at age 96, played Jessica Fletcher for 12 seasons and in four TV movies. Her performance earned 12 consecutive Emmy nominations but never a win, a fact many in Hollywood consider one of the Academy’s great oversights. Curtis acknowledged Lansbury’s contributions directly, calling her “the blueprint for every woman who ever wanted to age with power, grace, and purpose on screen.”
Production on the new series is expected to begin later this year, with a premiere date targeted for fall 2026. While no other casting has been announced, NBC insiders say the show will feature a mix of established stars and newcomers, and will retain the puzzle-box narrative structure that made the original a staple of Sunday night television.
For Curtis, whose late mother Janet Leigh was also a screen legend, returning to the small screen in a role so steeped in television history feels both personal and full circle. “Storytelling is in my blood,” she said. “And Jessica Fletcher is the kind of woman I would have wanted to know — and now, I get to be her.”
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