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MTV heading way, way back to Clone High with Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Bill Lawrence

By Josh Weiss
Clone High

Good news, Wesley. A reimagining of MTV's Clone High is in the works from original creators Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Bill Lawrence. Erica Rivinoja, who served as a writer on the original series, has been tapped as showrunner and will pen the pilot with Lord and Miller.

"We're thrilled to reunite with Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Bill Lawrence to re-imagine this cult classic as we rapidly grow our portfolio of beloved and iconic adult animation series," Chris McCarthy, President, ViacomCBS Entertainment and Youth Group, said in a statement.

A meta spoof of sci-fi tropes and hokey high school teen dramas of the early 2000s, Clone High was about the teenage versions of cloned historical figures like Abraham Lincoln (Will Forte), Joan of Arc (Nicole Sullivan), Gandhi (Michael McDonald), JFK (Miller), and Cleopatra (Christa Miller). Their existence was the result of a secret government program conducted "way, way back in the 1980s."

Lord voiced the titular school's principal, Dr. Cinnamon J. Scudworth, a proxy of "The Secret Board of Shadowy Figures" tasked with overseeing the clones. A mad scientist with delusions of grandeur, Scudworth secretly planned to exploit the clones for personal gain, with some help from his robot butler, Mr. Lynn Butlertron (also Miller), that calls everyone "Wesley."

Per the press release, the fresh iteration of the show will follow a similar format, centering on the adolescent tribulations of young people with legendary reputations.

Clone High ran for a single season of 13 episodes on MTV between 2002 and 2003. It marked the first big break for Lord and Miller, who went on to make The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, and Into the Spider-Verse. Lawrence already had a successful track record with Scrubs, which premiered on NBC the year before. Indeed, several Scrubs cast members (Donald Faison, Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, and Neil Flynn) all made vocal appearances on Clone High during its short run.

While it received mixed reviews upon its initial airing, the series has gained an immense cult following in the years since and is now considered by many to be one of the most beloved animated series of the modern era.