The Crow Star Ernie Hudson Thinks Franchise Died With Brandon Lee

Hollywood has spend a number of years trying to reboot The Crow for modern audiences, but outside of a couple of under-the-radar sequels to the original, the endeavor hasn't been much of a success. Everything else under the sun gets a reboot these days, so why can't anyone figure out what to do with The Crow? Even with Jason Momoa attached to star that project can't get off the ground. Is it possible that this is a franchise that should just be left alone? That's how Ernie Hudson feels about the whole thing.

Hudson starred in the original Crow film back in 1994, alongside Brandon Lee. Of course, tragedy struck the production as Lee was accidentally killed on set. ComicBook.com recently spoke to Hudson and he explained that, in his mind, The Crow franchise died along with Lee.

"Well, James O'Barr is a friend and he created this thing as his graphic novel. And Brandon taking it on, I knew Brandon before we did the movie," Hudson told us. "We had some problems sort of pulling it together, but when Brandon died, it's even hard to verbalize. I've done action movies, but nobody gets hurt. I mean, it's close to impossible, at least in my mind that that could happen, but it did happen. And so, I love being a part of that movie and Alex Proyas, who directed it, he was a wonderful director, he really took special care to make sure the movie was what it is. But, in my mind, it was kind of done.

"Maybe there could be other Crows or whatever, but, it's not like Ghostbusters, which I thought, 'Oh yeah, you can have a lot of them.' I just thought Brandon was The Crow and, as far as I was concerned, once he died and we went back to finish it, it was done in my mind. I know they've made others, but I've never seen them. Brandon was The Crow, and that's how I feel. Now, fans feel otherwise. Obviously, the studio feels otherwise, because it could be a great franchise, but sometimes I think it's very specific."

Hudson went on to compare The Crow to the Star Wars franchise. Not that the the two were similar in scope or success, but that he felt the films with new characters could never really recreate the charm of the originals.

"I was watching Star Wars and I see a lot of the things that have come out of the first three, but there was very specific about Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher," he explained. "And you can get other people, but we do bring something unique to it, and sometimes that magic is just very, very hard to do. And I just think The Crow is an amazing movie for a lot of reasons, but Brandon was the heart of it and I just I can't imagine [another]. But, like I said, people will try and maybe sometime, somebody will find their own thing, but what that is and was, I don't think you can do that again."

If The Crow were to be rebooted, Hudson thinks it should follow an entirely new story and character, rather than trying to copy what Lee did in 1994.

"And I think you almost have to go not try to recreate that, do something totally different," Hudson added. "Just do a whole other kind of character. Just do something different."

You can watch the full interview with Ernie Hudson at the top of the page.