A Friday Night Lights reboot is in the works, but it will have to come to with a massive modern-day struggle. The original series focuses on a football team in Texas, with Friday Night Lights acting as a celebration of all things gridiron. However, some revelations about football have come about since the original series was on the air, and it will be difficult for the reboot to ignore them. While Friday Night Lights could simply refuse to talk about the issue, the reboot actually has the perfect opportunity to address the controversy head-on.
Friday Night Lights is a 2006 series based on the 2004 movie of the same name. The franchise has become universally beloved, leading to the recent announcement of a Friday Night Lights reboot that is in the works. The reboot will consist of two parts, starting off with a Friday Night Lights movie. Then, a new Friday Night Lights TV show will release that directly continues the story of the film. The Friday Night Lights reboot is sure to make some major departures from the original series, and one new story it could add should address football's big modern-day medical struggle.
Why Modern Medical Understanding Is A Friday Night Lights Problem
The Friday Night Lights reboot is going to have a problem addressing the modern-day medical understanding of the effects of football. Recent studies have shown the connection between traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and football, with the increase in chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) being traced back to sports like high school football. This new medical understanding has become part of the national conversation, with Will Smith's movie Concussion even shining a light on the subject. The controversy surrounding what the response should be is rampant, and it will cause a problem for the Friday Night Lights reboot.
The recent discussion of TBI and CTE will completely change the tone of Friday Night Lights, as some viewers may not be so eager to watch a bunch of kids potentially giving each other major health complications. If the coaches in the Friday Night Lights reboot are aware of these risks, the series will cast them in a villainous light, completely flipping the inspirational and heroic image of Coach Taylor in the original series. It will be incredibly difficult to make Friday Night Lights work without addressing this issue, with the way that the reboot approaches the matter potentially being problematic.
How A Friday Night Lights Reboot Could Try To Avoid The Issue
If the Friday Night Lights reboot wants to avoid the issue of talking about CTE, the original Friday Night Lights timeline could help. The Friday Night Lights movie takes place in 1988, well before the modern medical understanding of things like TBI and CTE. The reboot could simply set its story around this time if it wanted to avoid speaking on the controversy, with the setting giving the series an easy out. Simply ignoring the controversy seems unlikely, so changing the time period of the reboot seems like the best way to avoid the issue in the Friday Night Lights reboot.
However, it seems like this timeline option isn't going to happen in the Friday Night Lights reboot. The reboot of Friday Night Lights is making a big change, with the movie and TV show being set in 2015. By 2015, the football-related risks of TBI and CTE were already well known, meaning that the topic being brought up in the reboot is inevitable. If the Friday Night Lights reboot wants to avoid the discussion, the movie and series will either have to completely shift time periods or think of another creative reason to not bring up the controversial topic.
Why Friday Night Lights Should Tackle The Real Trauma
Although the Friday Night Lights reboot could avoid the controversy, the series should actually tackle the discussion of brain trauma. A TBI-centered storyline would add a thematic layer of social commentary to Friday Night Lights, making the reboot even deeper than its predecessors. On top of that, the medical storyline would be a great way for the Friday Night Lights reboot to differentiate itself from the original series. This storyline naturally fits into the narrative and is something that none of the past adaptations have done.
It would almost seem irresponsible for the Friday Night Lights reboot to focus on football without addressing modern medical understanding. TBI and CTE have been hot topics for years now, and Friday Night Lights is the perfect way to shine a spotlight on the discussion. Making the Friday Night Lights reboot stand out from the original will be a challenge, but the trauma storyline is the perfect way to do it.