Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s latest professional move is to head to the writer’s room. One of the NBA’s all-time greats is no stranger to writing gigs, but joining the writer’s room for the rebirth of Veronica Mars is kind of a strange turn.
Veronica Mars lasted three seasons from 2004 to 2007, with two seasons on UPN and a final on The CW. It starred Kristen Bell as the namesake of the show, which was a mystery-style drama set in the fictional town of Neptune, Calif.
The Kickstarter wave of show rebirths brought us a Veronica Mars movie, but in 2018, show creator Rob Thomas and Bell revealed that Hulu has picked up a fourth season of Veronica Mars nearly a decade after the original first went off the air. On Monday night, Thomas announced that his writer’s room does, indeed, include an NBA legend.
The #VeronicaMars writing staff!@DavidWalpert, @RickFoxTheActor, @rugz19, @kaj33 & Raymond Obstfeld.
And yes, if you’re brilliant and give yourself a #PartyDown Twitter handle, I'll hire you. Or, you could be the NBA’s all time leading scorer, but you must still be brilliant. pic.twitter.com/4Qk2uqcKey
— Rob Thomas (@RobThomas) September 25, 2018
Abdul-Jabbar is a best-selling author of books and has also written for The Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian. As Vulture notes, he’s even written a mystery: a Sherlock Holmes-ish book called Mycroft Holmes.
He’s certainly showed his range as an author, but jumping in to write television is a fun turn in his post-NBA career. There’s no word on whether he’s a fan of the show or how he got involved with the project, but it will certainly make for an interesting fourth season of the cult favorite. Thomas also shared some casting news, but it’s nowhere as surprising as having the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in your writer’s room.
