Bruce Campbell says after people get done binging his new project Hysteria, he wants to make a new movie based on Burn Notice, the spy series from USA Network and creator Matt Nix. Campbell starred as Sam Axe in the series, which ran for seven seasons on USA. He also starred in Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, a tie-in movie released in 2011. The series centered on Michael Westen, a former spy who had been “burned” — essentially designated as persona non grata — by the CIA. It followed his attempts to get to the bottom of who burned him and why, all while everyone he had ever upset now had a clear runway to try to kill him.
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In addition to the TV movie, Burn Notice got a series of tie-in novels, and a digital comic that detailed a side quest, beefing up the relationship between Michael and his ex-girlfriend/fellow spy Fiona. The series ended in 2013, with the finale earning series-high ratings.
“I want to bring back Burn Notice,” Campbell told ComicBook. “It’s time. There’s a bunch of perps in the world — international perps that are scumbags all around the world that still have to be dealt with. None of our cast is dead, either in real life of their characters. So you do a two-hour movie. I’m trying to lobby for these. They did it with Monk — it came back with a little two-hour movie. People want a little taste of it. Get ready for a taste of Burn Notice.”
Besides Mr. Monk’s Last Case, the aforementioned Monk movie, USA has revived Psych (which ended in 2014) for three direct-to-Peacock movies and counting. Suits, which had an extraordinary summer on Netflix last year, has a spinoff in production starring Stephen Amell.
Since the end of Burn Notice, many of the players have stayed pretty busy. Nix has served as a writer, producer, or showrunner on The Gifted, Turner & Hooch, and the 2023 reimagining of True Lies. Jeffrey Donovan, who played Michael, has been appearing on Law & Order. Gabrielle Anwar, who played Fiona, had a significant role in season seven of Once Upon a Time, but has been largely out of the spotlight for the last five years.
With cable TV struggling all over, USA Network said last year that it would take a cue from the success of Suits and start developing more shows reminiscent of their “Blue Sky” era, which included huge successes like Monk, Psych, Suits, White Collar, and Burn Notice as well as some fan-favorite series that haven’t fared as well on streaming, like Royal Pains and Covert Affairs.
