A RoboCop reboot series is officially in development at Amazon MGM Studios.
The long-gestating project was first announced back in 2024.At the time Peter Ocko (Lodge 49) was attached to write and serve as executive producer and showrunner on the potential series with James Wan on board to executive produce through his Atomic Monster banner.
While there had been little progress on the project since then, a recent report from The Ankler shared a promising update from Peter Friedlander, the head of global TV at Amazon MGM Studios.
Although nothing official has been announced by Amazon yet, The Ankler reports that the RoboCop series has been greenlit (alongside a series adaptation of the comic book Sex Criminals). Unfortunately, no additional details were shared, so it's unclear Ocko and Wan still remain on board.
The RoboCop franchise debuted in 1987 and is widely regarded as a sci-fi action classic. Set in a dystopian future, the original RoboCop movies follow Detroit police officer Alex Murphy, who is brutally murdered by a gang and resurrected as a powerful cyborg law enforcement officer, struggling to uphold justice while grappling with his lost humanity.
The original movie and its sequel, RoboCop 2 (1990), were heavy on dystopian themes blending dark humor, violence, and satire to comment on corporate corruption, greed, media, and privatization. RoboCop 3 was released in 1993, but was noticeably less violent due to its PG-13 rating.
Over the years, that have been multiple attempts to revitalize the franchise. In 1994, a live-action series followed RoboCop after the original film, but it ran for just one series. A four-part live-action miniseries called RoboCop: Prime Directives was released in 2001.
A RoboCop reboot starring Joel Kinnaman as Alex Murphy alongside Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, and Samuel L. Jackson came in 2014. A modern reimagining of the 1987 original, the film was a more grounded sci-fi thriller, focusing ethical and technological questions involving Ai in law enforcement, corporate control, and the morality of human augmentation. The movie was praised for its visuals and darker, more realistic style, but received criticism for abandonment of sharp satire that made the originals so captivating. Although it achieved moderate box office success, it failed to revive the franchise.
Depending on the direction Amazon takes with this reboot, a RoboCop movie could be a very smart move, given today’s political climate around policing, technology, and corporate influence. Even 40 years after the original, these hot-button issues remain as relevant now as they were then.