Jericho, the twice-cancelled CBS series best known for the most passionate fanbase seen and felt in recent decades, is officially back from the dead – for the third time.

Executive producer Jon Turteltaub broke the news to iFMagazine earlier today while promoting his upcoming horror/mystery series Harper’s Island, which is expected to premiere on CBS in April.

“We’re developing a feature for Jericho“, he said. “It would not require you to have seen the TV show, but it [would] get into life after an event like this on a national scale. It would be the bigger, full on American version of what’s going on beyond the town in Jericho.” 

He also confirms that, if the Jericho movie happens, the show’s original cast, which includes Skeet Ulrich, Lennie James, Pamela Reed, Alicia Coppola, Brad Beyer, Sprague Grayden and Kenny Mitchell among others, will definitely be back for the ride.  

Jericho is currently being re-aired on CW. After clearing their Sunday schedule, CW execs decided to give the show a 29-week run in the 7 p.m. slot in November and now, says Turteltaub, there may even be a chance that the network brings the series back on the small screen as well: “If it was like this remarkable success, they would bring it back.”

“It’s crazy,” he adds. “I think they’re airing it because it’s cheap and there’s still that feeling that it hasn’t really gotten all the attention it can. When I think about the fact, a repeat of Jericho on CW actually has more viewers than an episode of Mad Men, you realize the difference between cable and broadcast, you realize the difference between what the press is watching vs. what America is watching. And I bring up Mad Men because it’s a brilliant show. But it’s still fun to see the show won’t die.”

After a series of large-scale fan campaigns – sending peanuts to CBS, putting up a giant billboard for TV executives to admire in Studio City and airing Save Jericho Again television ads to name just a few – it is fun indeed!    

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