'Veronica Mars' Revival Writers Room Adds Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has joined the writing staff of Hulu's forthcoming revival of cult hit Veronica Mars, showrunner Rob Thomas announced today.

Abdul-Jabbar transcended basketball to become a cultural icon, and has been acting since 1971, when he first appeared in an episode of Mannix. A student of Bruce Lee, he appeared in the martial arts master's final film, Game of Death.

Abdul-Jabbar will play Zed, "one of just two Seattle City Council members who didn't flee the city before the wall went up," in the forthcoming season of the Thomas-produced comics adaptation iZombie. According to his official character bio, "Zed is a zombie, and his fellow council member is a human, thus creating a unique form of gridlock at city hall. With the wheels of government ground to a halt, Liv's (McIver) friend Peyton (Aly Michalka) — the deceased mayor's chief of staff — is left effectively in charge of running the city."

Abdul-Jabbar, who is also a columnist and novelist, is not writing iZombie, as far as we know. There is also no official word as yet whether he will appear onscreen in Veronica Mars. Several Veronica Mars cast and crew members have made the jump to iZombie, including Kristen Bell, Ryan Hansen, and Enrico Colantoni, who not only appeared in iZombie but directed as well.

Abdul-Jabbar is no stranger to comics and related media, having penned the stories of Mycroft Holmes for some time now at Titan Comics. He also recently weighed in to support fired Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker James Gunn.

Veronica Mars originally ran from 2004 to 2007 on UPN and The CW. One of the most critically-praised shows of its time, its cancellation was so mourned by its fans that they mounted a record-breaking crowdfunding effort when Thomas convinced Warner Bros. to make a feature film after using Kickstarter to prove there was an audience for the project.

The success of the movie led to tie-in novels and the Play It Again, Dick webseries while Thomas worked on iZombie and Bell moved on to The Good Place. When Hulu came knocking, the pair managed to find a way to schedule the series which will allow Bell to remain a part of her NBC hit while still making Veronica Mars.

Hulu's Veronica Mars is expected to begin production soon with an eye toward a 2019 release.