The first episode of “The Tomorrow People” (debuts Oct. 9 at 9:00 p.m.) is a re-imagining of the 1973 series, though it could also be argued that it’s really more of a re-imagining of a host of other CW series. There are hot guys, hot girls, really cool super powers, moody lighting and lots of angst. Sound familiar?
That being said, the show, which tells the story of Stephen (Robbie Amell) has some interesting facets. When the story begins, Stephen thinks he’s losing his mind, since he wakes up in other people’s apartments and hears voices in his head. It’s only when he’s dragged off to an abandoned subway station that he discovers the truth — he’s one of the Tomorrow People, a homo-superior (you know, next generation human) who has nifty skills like teleporting and telekenesis. He just needs to learn how to control and harness them, and life will be all sorts of fun! Sort of.
The drawback of being a homo-superior is Ultra, a group lead by Dr. Price (Mark Pellegrino) which is trying to round up these exotic people and, it seems, exterminate them. Or maybe not.
There are twists and turns a plenty, which leaves Stephen feeling torn between Dr. Price and his new friend Cara (Peyton List). During the brief panel after the show, Amell admitted that the first episode “surprised me… and the surprises keep coming. I got blindslided by another one in [episode]103.”
Executive producer Greg Berlanti explained his interest in doing the show. “I was a tremendous fan of it in the ’80s, and this was long before VCR or DVR… and I met [executive producer] Julie Plec in college, and seven eight years ago we started pursuing the rights.”??”The show will, in its essence, have that sense of, you’re not just a freak, you’re actually special,” Berlanti added. “Roger Price [the creator of the 1973 series] saw our version of the pilot and had nice things to say. We want to keep drawing on the original and [create something new].
Pellegrino was asked to comment on his most recent villain role, and he said, “I was [attracted] to Jedekiah’s passion and his dedication to his purpose, which is to kill the Tomorrow People. I’d want him on my side, to be honest. He’s a soldier and an intellectual, and those qualities appeal to me. He’s not a bad guy. It all started out with the desire to help his brother,” who was born a Tomorrow People while Jedekiah was, in essence, a muggle.
As to why he cast Amell, Berlanti joked, “I really want to be invited to the Amell family picnic. No shirts at all. I knew Robbie before I knew Stephen [star of “Arrow”]. He came in and blew us away. Really, everyone we cast was our first choice.”
While one quirk of the Tomorrow People is that, while they have amazing powers and can fight spectacularly well, they cannot kill. “We’re going to deal with that directly in the first three or four episodes,” Berlanti promised.
He also mentioned one item on his wish list for future episodes. “The real dream would be to get any members of the original cast to do cameos.”