Family, community, and football define what viewers expect from “Friday Night Lights.” Taking inspiration from a film of the same title, itself based on a non-fiction book by journalist H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger, the series portrays a high school football team in the fictional town of Dillon, Texas. The Panthers are under the guidance of a new coach, Eric Taylor (played by Kyle Chandler), who faces many challenges ahead.

Spanning five seasons, the series not only showcases the hurdles Coach Taylor encounters but also delves into the personal and academic struggles of the teen players. Jason Street (Scott Porter) suffers a life-altering injury during a game, leaving the star quarterback paralyzed and searching for a new direction. Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) battles a troubled home life, affecting his performance on the field. Meanwhile, Coach Eric’s daughter, Julie (Aimee Teegarden), navigates fitting into her new school while developing a crush on the new quarterback, Matt (Zach Gilford). From high school challenges to championship aspirations and college dreams, the journey of these teens unfolds.

In November 2024, Variety sources revealed that a new “Friday Night Lights” series was in the works. Here’s what we know about the reboot so far.

As of now, there’s no set date for the new “Friday Night Lights” series, though in December 2024, Deadline revealed that Peacock, the NBCUniversal streaming platform, will host the show. Peacock outbid Netflix, which has been targeting nostalgia from the 2000s and had secured rights to the “One Tree Hill” reboot, which also lacks a premiere date.

Despite Peacock securing the rights, an official episode order hasn’t been announced, which means the premiere is still some time away, as the show remains in initial development stages. However, with several creative minds from the original series involved in the reboot, fans can trust that the project is on a solid path.

The reboot for “Friday Night Lights” is just that—a fresh start. It will feature new characters and will not continue the original storyline. According to Deadline, the series will showcase a “ragtag high school football team and their troubled interim coach” as they aim for a state championship after a hurricane hits their town. Set around two decades after the original series, the reboot will adapt in numerous ways to fit the new era it portrays, yet will maintain the beloved themes from the original. This comes as per Peter Berg, the original series developer, who returns for this revival.

“The original show was made a long time back when there were no cell phones or social media. It was a different era, yet the core values and family dynamics remain. Football’s significance has only increased in communities nationwide,” Berg shared with Esquire in May 2025. “So the essential themes of ‘Friday Night Lights’ — which Buzz Bissinger highlighted in his book — still resonate. Although there are many new elements, we aim to explore those.” It’s clear the goal is to modernize “Friday Night Lights” while preserving the essence that made it exceptional.

In his Esquire interview, Peter Berg revealed that the plan for the “Friday Night Lights” reboot is “a complete reinvention of the show,” and that meant finding “a whole new cast.” As such, it’s unlikely that we will see many original cast members return, if any. It’s been almost two decades since the original show debuted and they’ve all moved on to other things (here’s what the cast of “Friday Night Lights” looks like today). Berg is confident that the show will succeed without any old faces, though he’s leaving the door open for some potential comebacks. “If certain cast members come back, have appearances, that’s great,” he said. “But if ‘Friday Night Lights’ works, it’ll be because it works as a reinvention.”

Two former cast members have spoken out about appearing in the reboot. Taylor Kitsch, who played fullback Tim Riggins, and Connie Britton, who was the coach’s wife Tami Taylor, both agreed in an interview with Vanity Fair in June 2025 that they would make cameo appearances, but have no plans to return to the reboot long-term. “I don’t feel I have much to say for Riggins or to reignite that whole thing, so I won’t be a part of it,” Kitsch said. “I’ll be the first one in line to watch. But in regard to being a part of it, I told Pete — and I bet you Connie would say the same — I would come in for a little bit of a funny arc or something, but I don’t think I would want to just full-stop go into three seasons of that.” Britton agreed, saying she was on board for “a real little tight cameo.”

One thing the “Friday Night Lights” reboot has in its favor is continuity, with several members of the original show’s creative team set to return. As mentioned, Peter Berg, who developed and produced the first series, is back for the reboot as an executive producer. This means Berg (pictured above promoting his 2025 Netflix show “American Primeval,” a Western inspired by the true story) will have been involved with all three adaptations of the source material so far, since he was the writer and director of the 2004 film “Friday Night Lights.”

Original showrunner Jason Katims, who worked on “Parenthood,” “Rise,” and “Almost Family” after “Friday Night Lights,” is also back for the reboot as an executive producer. He and Berg are joined by Brian Grazer, who served as an executive producer on the first series and has produced shows like “Arrested Development” and “Empire,” as well as movies like “Tick, Tick… Boom!” and “The Spy Who Dumped Me.” Kristen Zolner, who has produced some of the best stand-up comedy specials of the past decade like “Ali Wong: Baby Cobra” and “Bo Burnham: Make Happy,” along with shows like “Big Mouth” and “Friends from College,” is also an executive producer.