White Collar could be making a return sooner than you think, according to creator and executive producer Jeff Eastin. Speaking at Variety‘s TV Fest yesterday, Eastin appeared on a panel with series stars Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay, and Tiffany Thiessen. The series, which ran on USA Network from 2009 until 2014, has had continued success on streaming. It was part of the “Blue Sky era” of USA, where quirky police procedural-adjacent series like Monk and Psych set the tone. Another series from that same era, Suits, recently became a mega-hit when it moved to Netflix and absolutely dominated the platform for weeks.
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Now, Suits is getting a spinoff starring Arrow‘s Stephen Amell. Psych is three movies deep into a series of straight-to-Peacock originals, and Monk just got its first movie too. Now, it seems it’s time for more White Collar.
“We’re gonna reboot. I’m writing the script,” Eastin said, with all three cast members indicating that they’re interested in coming back. “It’s a fantastic script and it answers all the questions that one would have if you watch the show — and it would introduce the show to those who haven’t seen it as well. Both edges of the sword are honed.”
White Collar centered on a white collar criminal who, after being caught, teamed up with the FBI agent who caught him to provide specialized inside information on the methods of other white collar crooks. One member of the team was Mozzie, Neal’s (Bomer) former partner in crime who was great at gathering intelligence. Mozzie was played by Willie Garson, who passed away in 2021, and while Eastin is calling the show a “reboot,” it’s pretty obviously some kind of sequel or revival, becuase in addition to bringing back the cast, the producer promised Mozzie’s story would be addressed.
“It honors Willie, too, in a profound way,” DeKay said.
“With such sensitivity and such heart,” Thiessen added (via Variety). “I told Jeff after I finished it, I literally was so excited, but at the same time had tears in my eyes — for good reason. You captured the suspense, the thrill, the characters and the love in that reboot.”
There is no word yet on when the revival might air, or even when they will begin production. According to Eastin, he already had the notion that the story wasn’t completely over when the original series ended ten years ago.
“If you get to the finale, with Neal walking in Paris, that was always the setup,” he said. “I always left it open, and as the years passed, it seemed more like a distant hope. But say thank you to Suits for starting this streaming trend. They were doing great, and got people watching White Collar now on Netflix. That’s doing really, really good. Off of that, it’s like, ‘Hey, let’s do another one.’”
