Robocop at WCW Capital Combat
After years of chatter about a Robocop reboot, Amazon Prime Video has confirmed a series with an eight-episode order. The original Robocop franchise hit theaters in 1987, and over the nearly forty years since, there have been numerous sequels, a reboot, a WCW pay-per-view and a handful of television shows, both live-action and animated, as well as comic books and video games.
The franchise was among the first wave of MGM titles earmarked for series development after Amazon’s 2022 acquisition of MGM. There’s also no shortage of writing and producing manpower being added to the production.
Four-time Emmy nominee Peter Ocko will write, executive produce, and serve as showrunner for the new series. His credits include The Office, Pushing Daisies, Black Sails, Lodge 49, and other titles. James Wan, Michael Clear, and Rob Hackett will executive produce through Blumhouse Atomic Monster alongside original franchise co-writers Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner.
Head of global television for Amazon MGM Studios, Peter Friedlander, praised the franchise and the production team's vision for the reboot: “Peter Ocko has crafted a vision that honors the soul of what made the original so enduring while building something entirely fresh and urgent for today. Paired with the cinematic sensibility of James Wan and the team at Blumhouse Atomic Monster, we believe this series will captivate a whole new generation of fans on Prime Video.”
The concept is certainly topical. Robocop looks at the ethics of technology, identity, and corporate allegiance, which, according to Wan, have “grown only more urgent.” Wan has also called this a dream project and describes himself as a ‘massive fan’ of Paul Verhoeven’s original.
RoboCop is unusually well suited to the present moment. The original satirized civil privatization, corporate power, and technological overreach through a cyborg police officer implanted with the persona of a beloved fallen officer. The new series should have no trouble finding an audience looking to align with an anti-corporate vibe in 2026.
Jenny Catlin is a writer and pop culture enthusiast based in the square states. She’s a contributing writer to The Athletic, a Lighthouse Writers Book Project Fellow, and an award-winning essayist obsessed with obsession. You can find her on Instagram or Substack.