NBC will reboot "Murder, She Wrote" with Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer as the amateur sleuth first played by Angela Lansbury on the successful 1980s series, Deadline reports.
The hour-long project has received the greenlight from NBC for a put pilot that will reimagine the long-running CBS show.
The new version will reportedly have a light, contemporary feel similar to "Bones" as it follows a hospital administrator and amateur sleuth who self-publishes her first mystery novel, according to Deadline.
Writer Alexandra Cunningham and producer David Janollari have signed on for the project, and Lansbury is rumored to have been approached for a part in the reboot.
The original series was created by Richard Levinson, William Link and Peter S. Fischer and ran for 12 seasons starting in 1984. Lansbury was nominated for 12 Emmys and 10 Golden Globes for her role as Jessica Fletcher.
Spencer, best known for her role as Minny Jackson in 2011's "The Help," has stayed busy with film work, recently completing "Black and White" opposite Kevin Costner. She will next begin filming the James Brown biopic "Get on Up" while promoting her debut novel.
The TV role as a mystery writer involved in murder investigations should be a fitting one for Spencer, as her new book is called "Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit."
The 43-year-old actress recently described the novel for younger readers as "the type of stuff I read growing up.
"Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Jupiter Jones, Encyclopedia Brown, Trixie Belden," she described to Chron.com. "It's something that has been gestating for a while. I started writing it about eight years ago, and it has gone through several iterations. It's something I always wanted to do."
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