Veronica Mars was the noughties’ answer to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It follows the life of teen private eye Veronica Mars, who works for her dad’s agency. The cult favourite ended after just three critically-acclaimed seasons when it was officially cancelled in 2007. This “character study masquerading as a high-school drama” (Joyce Millman, The Phoenix), however, never lost the support of its fans. In 2013 lead actress Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas, the show’s creator, launched a Kickstarter for a film reboot which raised $2 million dollars in less than eleven hours. When the fundraiser finally reached its goal, it became the most successful film project in Kickstarter’s history – and the film was released the following year. Three seasons and a feature film may seem like enough time to spend on one girl and the mysteries of her affluent California town, but it seems like Veronica Mars still has more to give.

Then, in September this year, Hulu announced that they would be reviving the beloved series for an 8-part reboot to be aired in 2019. Returning to the cast are fan favourites Kristen Bell, Percy Daggs III (Veronica’s long-time best friend Wallace Fennel), Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars, Veronica’s father and private investigator) and Jason Dohring (Logan Echolls, Veronica’s love interest and damaged rich-boy) just to name a few. The news was met with excitement from fans worldwide, many of whom have campaigned for a televisual revival since the release of the feature film in 2014.

Veronica Mars was a gritty, noir predecessor to contemporary teen favourites like Skins or the acclaimed Skam, sweeping up viewers’ emotions into a whirlwind of crime, teen heartbreak and sleek P.I work. It battled complex themes head-on, never shying away from darker story arcs or formidable realism. Kristen Bell elevated the series considerably with her smart, stylish and sharp-witted take on the lead role. Elements of Veronica’s character drew comparisons to 90s heroine Buffy Summers – both are beautiful, thin, short blonde girls with a quick wit and tragic backstory –  and the show certainly served as a sequel of sorts to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, filling the much-needed girl-power gap in noughties television as the former came to its end. It even cast some of the same actors in minor roles, such as Alyson Hannigan and Charisma Carpenter. However, Kristen Bell never compromised Veronica’s character by borrowing from performances past; her portrayal of the teen P.I. was unique and earned accolades of its own. Veronica Mars’ nerve and her dogmatic pursuit of justice meant watching her was almost an addictive experience. Despite it being a show aimed at teenagers, Veronica Mars was a show which could be appreciated by viewers of all ages. Programmes about adolescence are so often riddled with clichés that their stories and characters are overlooked, or seen as naive and inconsequential. A lack of adulthood, for many, equates to a lack of substance. Veronica Mars, therefore, exists as more than just a great TV show, but as a testament to the power of teen-girl TV. Its original concept was matched with razor-sharp performances as it cleverly interwove its coming-of-age story with intriguing criminal sub-plots.

The upcoming Veronica Mars revival, therefore, has much to live up to. Unlike the recent reboots of nineties and noughties hits like Charmed and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the Hulu show will retain the majority of the original’s main cast and creative team. In a recent interview, Rob Thomas explained that the show wouldn’t have been the same without Bell as its lead, and that “as long as she wanted to do it”, the part would be open to her. Bell was so integral to the show’s old branding and appeal that her performance, if usurped by another, younger actress, would undoubtedly be sorely missed. The televisual lifetime of the original was simply too short, and to cut the potential of another Bell-led series would feel positively criminal. Bell needed to be Veronica again. Her character was the axis on which the show spun and, without her, the reboot would undoubtedly spin out of touch with the original.  

Rob Thomas avoided boring, broody detective or super-sweet Nancy Drew clichés with Veronica Mars. The show’s thematic maturity and masterful pacing lives up to the standard of adult crime dramas like The Killing – without any baggage of the doom-and-gloom side to the noir genre. The film reboot, which featured an all-grown-up cast, may not have had the original’s adolescent cachet, but certainly kept its small-town dynamics and smooth suspense alive. I hope Hulu’s miniseries will follow its example, adding its own flair without compromising on the elements which made preceding adaptations so successful. Unrealised potential and limitless nostalgic possibilities mean Veronica Mars round three, at least for me, will undoubtedly be one of the biggest shows of 2019.