Jerry O’Connell is officially on board for a Sliders reboot, and he says a premise already exists.
The actor, who starred as boy-genius Quinn Mallory in the ’90s sci-fi series, was asked about a potential revival while promoting his new Tubi comedy Summer’s Last Resort in an interview with TikTok creator Kay Maldonado (@kaymaldo), and he didn’t hedge for a second.
“I’m so glad you brought this up,” O’Connell said, noting the original series just landed on Tubi. “These kids are not going to know, okay? These youngsters. I was in a science fiction show called Sliders. It was the first multi-dimensional television show — before Marvel was doing it.”
“Each episode, we traveled to a different dimension of Earth, and we experienced it and had to get out,” he continued. “It is as good as science fiction shows get.”
A reboot pitch already exists — but Universal holds the rights
O’Connell then revealed that a reboot idea is already floating around, courtesy of Superstore star and comedy writer Colton Dunn.
“My good friend Colton Dunn — incredible actor and writer — has come up with a great premise,” O’Connell said. “There is, like, a question of getting rights to it. I believe Universal has the rights.”
The actor then joked about why he can’t just buy the rights himself: “I personally can’t afford the rights because I’m going through something right now. My credit — not the best. I went through one foreclosure and my credit is, like, gone. So I personally can’t get the rights. But Sliders is on Tubi. Let’s go.”
He closed out the segment by making his position crystal clear: “Let’s reboot it… Incredible science fiction show. I had incredible long hair when I was younger. It’s a real show. Let’s reboot it… Oh my God, I’m excited. Let’s do this.”
@kaymaldo A #Sliders reboot? @Jerry O'Connell says count him in! Watch #SummersLastResort and revisit Sliders now streaming exclusively on @Tubi. #tiktokmilestonechallenge #jerryoconnell #tubimovies @Violet McGraw @Sophia Bush ♬ original sound – Kristen Maldonado | TV & Film
Sliders did the multiverse before it was cool
Sliders ran for five seasons from 1995 to 2000, first on Fox and later on the Sci-Fi Channel, following Quinn Mallory and his fellow travelers — including John Rhys-Davies’ Professor Arturo, Sabrina Lloyd’s Wade Wells, and Cleavant Derricks’ Rembrandt “Crying Man” Brown — as they “slid” between parallel Earths trying to find their way home.
O’Connell’s real-life brother, Charlie O’Connell, later joined the cast as Colin Mallory.
O’Connell isn’t wrong about the show being ahead of its time.
Sliders was doing alternate-Earth storytelling decades before the multiverse became Hollywood’s favorite crutch, long before Spider-Man: No Way Home, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and the MCU’s entire Multiverse Saga turned parallel dimensions into a box office formula.
If anything, the current landscape makes a Sliders revival an easier pitch now than at any point since the show went off the air.
This also isn’t the first time O’Connell has pushed for a return.
He has talked up reviving the series for years, but as he acknowledged, the rights sit with Universal — the studio behind the original — so any reboot would need NBCUniversal to play ball.
Why O’Connell is making the rounds
The Sliders talk came up while O’Connell was promoting Summer’s Last Resort, the Tubi original comedy that premiered over the July 4th weekend.
The film stars Violet McGraw (M3GAN) as a teen who plots to break up her mom (Sophia Bush) and her mom’s new boyfriend (O’Connell) — who also happens to be her vice principal — during a luxury vacation.
Melanie Scrofano directed from a script by Emily Andras, reuniting the Wynonna Earp creative team.
Both Summer’s Last Resort and all five seasons of Sliders are now streaming free on Tubi.
