Rod Serling, Twilight Zone Creator, Is Getting The Coolest Tribute Possible
Rod Serling is getting a life-size statue erected in his hometown, recognizing his work with The Twilight Zone.
Rod Serling created The Twilight Zone and left an indelible mark on sci-fi media, so naturally, he’s considered a hometown hero in his home of upstate New York. Now the late Serling will be getting an incredible honor in Binghamton, New York, where a life-sized statue will be erected of him. The Rod Serling Memorial Foundation is funding the statue with a combination of Kickstarter and a $50,000 grant which New York State Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo helped them obtain (via Comicbook.com).
The Rod Serling Memorial Foundation tried to crowdfund the statue of The Twilight Zone creator to no avail in the past, but the grant will help to cover the cost of creating, transporting, and installing the memorial. Combined with the crowdfunding efforts from Kickstarter, they’re hoping to put the statue up by December 25, 2024, which is Sterling’s 100th birthday. The crowdfunding campaign will end after this weekend, so there’s still time to throw some money in and get some of the perks from donating.
If you donate to the campaign for the Rod Serling statue, you can get some cool Serling and The Twilight Zone-related stuff. Packages for contributing include commemorative T-shirts, busts of Serling’s head, calendars with never-before-seen pictures, and even the opportunity to have your name on one of the bricks installed in the statue’s foundation. It seems like a cool opportunity for big fans.
Rod Serling is best known for creating The Twilight Zone and writing and producing other major projects like The Planet of the Apes, Seven Days in May, and Requiem for a Heavyweight. His famous intro to the episodic anthology sci-fi series is iconic, and the door seen in the intro will be part of the statue as well, with the inscription reading “As Timeless as Infinity.” It seems like a lot of care is going into the statue, and it should be a fitting tribute to his legacy.
Rod Serling brought The Twilight Zone to audiences on CBS in 1959, and the series has been brought back three times since the original ended in 1964. The second series would be brought to CBS in 1985, around a decade after Serling’s passing in 1975. Twilight Zone: The Movie also came out just a couple of years before the second iteration of the series in 1983.
Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone would be brought back again for a third season in 2002 with Forest Whitaker as the host. This iteration of the series ran for the shortest period, only airing one season before ending. The series wouldn’t be revisited until 2019.
The most recent revival of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone was developed and hosted by Jordan Peele for CBS All Access. The Peele-run version of the series ran for two seasons before being canceled. A potential new film with Leonardo DiCaprio has also been in the works for over a decade.
The latest update on the Leonardo DiCaprio film was in 2017 when Christine Lavaf was attached to write the script. So, it’s probably safer not to count on that making serious forward progress anytime soon. In the meantime, you can always revisit the Rod Serling classic original version of The Twilight Zone on Paramount+.
