Why Jordan Peele’s ‘The Twilight Zone’ Is Far From Your Typical Reboot

Aubry D'Arminio March 31, 2019, 9:00 am

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THE TWILIGHT ZONE — Robert Falconer/CBS

Kumail Nanjiani in *The Twilight Zone*

If you think Jordan Peele, the writer-director of 2017’s hit horror film Get Out and the new thriller Us, would spearhead a reboot of Rod Serling’s iconic 1959–64 sci-fi series by simply remaking episodes, then you’re in the Twilight Zone.

So forget the widely reported assumption that “Nightmare at 30,000 Feet” (one of two installments debuting April 1, while the remaining eight stream weekly starting April 11) is an update of the original’s “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” which starred William Shatner as a traveler who sees a monster on the wing of his plane.

Meet the Cast of the Rebooted 'The Twilight Zone' (PHOTOS)

Here, Parks and Recreation’s Adam Scott plays a journalist flying to Tel Aviv who finds an MP3 player near his seat that’s preloaded with a podcast detailing exactly how his plane will soon disappear — and it gets much freakier from there.

Adam Scott (Robert Falconer/CBS)

Then, in the other episode, “The Comedian,” Silicon Valley star Kumail Nanjiani portrays a stand-up comic who can’t get a laugh, until a famous comedian (Tracy Morgan) advises him to ditch political humor and riff on things in his own life instead.

It works, but with one big hitch: Whatever or whomever he mocks onstage (like his dog named “Cat”) faces a disturbing fate (sorry, no spoilers here!). His crazed final move is so haunting, we’re eagerly awaiting the next episode to scare it out of our heads.