Back in May, news broke that the ever-great Kevin Smith was to develop a Buckaroo Banzai TV show. Well Kev has been chatting to the guys at ComingSoon.net about what we can expect from the show, not to mention his current wishlist of directors for the series.

The iconic director of the likes of Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma (and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks II and Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Cop Out and Red State and Tusk… you get the idea… oh, and Jersey Girl) said, “With Buckaroo Banzai we get to tell the whole movie in ten episodes, so you get to expand some things. We’re gonna take a lot of stuff from Earl Mac Rauch’s brilliant novelization book of Buckaroo Banzai that included Hanoi Xan, his arch nemesis, who we want Peter Weller to play. We’ll layer that in, but also moments like… In Buckaroo Banzai, they’re all standing around talking about when the aliens came during the night of the War of the Worlds broadcast. It’s people trading information, saying it out loud. We’re gonna do a whole episode about that night and them approaching Orson Welles and all that. Moments where you’re like, ‘Wow, that’s a cool concept’ you get to expand and play with a little bit.”

On the directing front, good ol’ Kev Smith explained how he won’t be helming every episode of the series himself, although he does have a wishlist of names who he’d look to come in and help out with the show. Smith explained, “The big fun for me is going to be collecting the team, ‘cause I ain’t gonna direct it all. I wanna get people who loved it as much as me, so people like Richard Kelly, Edgar Wright, I’m gonna reach out to Quentin Tarantino, see if they’ll direct an episode. ‘Here’s a chunk of change, a 50-page script, eight days… go make your section.’ That’d be fun. It also means I won’t take all the heat myself .”

As huge fans of Kevin Smith and of the original The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, we cannot wait to see how this all develops.

The original Buckaroo Banzai movie debuted back in 1984, starring the brilliant ensemble of Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Clancy Brown, Christopher Lloyd and Jeff Goldblum. The film itself is all kinds of bonkers (in the best possible way) and sees Weller playing the titular Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, a man whose many talents include being a neurosurgeon, a physicist, a test pilot and, of course, a rock musician. Using his vast skills, it’s down to Banzai to save the world against Planet 10’s Red Lectoids. The original movie absolutely bombed upon release but has gone on to be a much-revered cult classic.