Jane Seymour Dr. Quinn Reboot Killed For Stupidest Reason
In an age when Yellowstone is one of the most popular shows on television and streaming, a Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman reboot sounds like a no-brainer. And yet, as The Messenger reports, Jane Seymour, star of the original Dr. Quinn, pitched a revival of Medicine Woman to one of the major networks recently only to be shot down because the studio wasn’t “interested in Westerns.”
This is a surprising sentiment at a time when you can’t throw a rock in Hollywood without hitting one of Taylor Sheridan’s cowboy shows.
Series Planned Out
“We’ve actually got one written, and we’ve got the whole series planned out,” Jane Seymour said in relation to a potential Dr. Quinn reboot.
“We just took it to one of the networks, and they said that they weren’t interested in Westerns.”
Seymour, who is also aware of the current Western boom on television, was absolutely gobsmacked by the response.
Westerns Are Still Going Strong
“I think it’s really crazy,” the 72-year-old actor admitted. “There seems to be a lot of very successful Westerns, so I didn’t get that at all.”
Indeed, Yellowstone alone spawned two prequel spinoffs—1883 and 1923 with another, 1944, and a sequel, 2024, on the way.
Meanwhile, other modern westerns such as Justified, Wynonna Earp, Deadwood, Joe Pickett, Hell on Wheels, and Longmire prove that the Western genre is far from dead.
Dr. Quinn In The 21st Century?
To add insult to injury, Jane Seymour was alternately pitched an idea to take Dr. Quinn out of the Old West and set it in the 21st century—a move that would completely negate the charm of the original series.
Seymour herself maintains that the idea that the issues women faced in the 1870s aren’t that far removed from the issues they face today is what made Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman “magical.”
Original Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
The original Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, told the story of a female doctor and her adventures in the Wild West. It aired on CBS from 1993 to 1998.
Jane Seymour played the titular doctor, Michaela Quinn, a Boston physician who leaves New England for the untamed West, settling in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Quinn—known to many as Dr. Mike—attempts to convince the townspeople that a female doctor can do anything their male counterparts can.
Along the way, Dr. Quinn inherits three children after their mother dies from a rattlesnake bite and finds love with Byron Sully, an outdoorsman who frequently collaborates with the native Cheyenne in the area.
Westerns Rising
The Jane Seymour-led series was just one of many Westerns airing throughout the ’90s. Walker, Texas Ranger, starring eventual internet meme Chuck Norris, debuted the same year as Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
The two shows, along with others like the short-lived Briscoe County Jr., proved that Westerns could still be viable decades after their heyday in the ’50s and ’60s.
Might Still Happen
Flash forward to 2023, and the Western genre is still going strong despite what that one network seems to think.
Jane Seymour hasn’t given up hope that a Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman reboot might still happen one day. “Everyone is up for it,” the actor said, referring to all of her former cast members.
For now, however, Jane Seymour is focused on her Acorn TV original Harry Wild, in which she plays a retired English professor—the titular Harry Wild—with a knack for investigation. Wild was just renewed for a third season, which will air on Acorn TV sometime in 2024.
