“The Prisoner” Remake Previewed at Comic-Con

I don’t keep up with the news from the annual San Diego Comic-Con too much, but one thing did catch my eye today: A 9-minute preview of A&E’s remake of The Prisoner television series.

I’ve mentioned this before, and had a bit of a rundown for those new to the series, but there are a few things that jump out at me:

• They’ve stated this before, but Number 2 is going to be a constant this time around and will be played by Sir Ian McKellan. In the previous series Number 2 was rotated out nearly every week.
• One thing that is subtly, but notably different from the original is that it appears Number 6 (Jim Caviezel) is going to be given a love interest. Patrick McGoohan’s Number 6 in the original had little more than a passing interest in the occasional woman. Part of this was due to Number 6′s determination to get out of The Village, but the off-screen reason was that McGoohan didn’t want his show to be another James Bond clone. His Catholic faith also played a part in that he didn’t want the show to glorify infidelity, something that he carried over from his previous spy series Danger Man.
• They’ve changed 6′s home to the USA, and seem to be playing more to the idea that 6 wants to go back to his country. The original had this as a stated reason, but as the series moved on there was a hint that 6 knew quite well what was going on and became more interested in taking down The Village and finding “Number One.” It’s hard to tell from nine minutes of video, but I’m curious to see how much of the original premise they change.
• There are only six listed episodes. The original had seventeen, although that number was increased due to demand from networks.

It starts in November, and I’m very curious to see how it works out. Be seeing you then.