An old TV favorite is coming back this fall thanks to NBC and former “LA Law” star Blair Underwood. “Ironside”, which originally ran on NBC from 1967 to 1975, will return to US screens in October, NBC announced at a press event this past Saturday that included a panel of the cast and creative team behind the series.

Major Reboot

Underwood will star as the title character, Robert T. Ironside, a veteran police detective who, after being shot, is paralyzed from the waist down, and is forced to use a wheelchair. The original series, which starred Raymond Burr and was set in San Francisco, will be given a major overhaul. This reboot takes place in New York City, even though the series will be filmed in Los Angeles. In fact, according to Underwood, apart from the title character, his job, and his wheelchair, everything is new. He described the series as having “all new characters, a new city, new texture, new storytelling, new audience.” Just how different? According to Underwood, the new Ironside will have more of a social life than the old one. He explained that “every injury is unique, and everybody is different depending on where it affects your spinal cord. So, yes, in Ironside’s case, he is able.” Beyond Ironside’s romantic exploits, the new series will be more about the ‘why’ of crime, and not the ‘how’, explained members of the creative team behind the series.

Meaningful Role

Underwood said he prepared for the role by using a wheelchair at home, and by working with David Bryant, a technical advisor for the project who was paralyzed from the waist down at age 19. Like Bryant, the updated Ironside is more self-reliant. Neither Bryant nor Ironside has handles on the backs of their wheelchairs, for example, and while Raymond Burr’s Ironside needed a driver to get around, the 2013 Ironside will need no such help. The decision was made not to cast a paraplegic actor in the role, however, largely because the format of the new series will include at least 10% of flashbacks to Ironside’s past-before the shooting that put him in his wheelchair. Underwood takes seriously the craft of the actor: “Our job is to make you believe it and be authentic in that.” Besides the effort to make his performance as authentic as possible, the role has a special, personal significance for Underwood. His mother, Marilyn, has been in a wheelchair due to multiple sclerosis.

Back from Broadway

Underwood is perhaps best known for his critically acclaimed performance in “LA Law”, though he has also had notable roles in HBO’s “Sex and the City” and “In Treatment”. Most recently, however, he had his Broadway debut playing the lead role of Stanley in a bold, multiracial revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire”. In returning to NBC, Underwood is coming back to the network that gave him his breakout role as Jonathan Rollins, which he played from 1987 to 1994. NBC has ordered 13 episodes of the series, which is set to debut on October 2nd.