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https://tvline.com/2019/04/28/veronica-mars-kareem-abdul-jabbar-writing-staff-hulu-revival/
The most surprising face to join Hulu’s upcoming Veronica Mars revival might actually be behind the scenes: Last September, executive producer Rob Thomas revealed that the show’s writing staff includes none other than NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. (Check out the announcement tweet below.)
The former basketball icon is also a bestselling author who has written many books, including a novel about Sherlock Holmes’ brother Mycroft, in addition to contributing columns to various publications. But how did Abdul-Jabbar find himself penning dialogue for Veronica & Co.?
“It’s kind of a crazy story,” Thomas tells TVLine. “He’s quite a Renaissance man… He wrote a column on the five young adult books everyone should read. One of those was my second novel, called Slave Day. I was so thrilled that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar named one of my books as one of the five books everyone should read. In that column, he said that he was both a Veronica Mars fan and an iZombie fan.”
While planning a re-release for Slave Day‘s 20th anniversary, Thomas’ editor at Simon & Schuster suggested that he ask Abdul-Jabbar to write the foreword. “I reached out to his management, and I got word back, ‘Hey, Kareem is happy to write the foreword to Slave Day, but he wants to play a zombie on iZombie,'” Thomas recalls. Thus was born the basketball star’s upcoming guest spot on the CW series’ May 9 episode as undead city councilman Zed.
Then over dinner, Abdul-Jabbar and his writing partner Raymond Obstfeld expressed interest to Thomas in developing a television show. “At a certain point, I said, ‘Well, you know if you do want to work in television, it would be great for you to get a little bit of experience. You’re both Veronica Mars fans. Do you want to come on the staff and see how a television show works?’ And so they did,” Thomas shares. “There was not a day in the Veronica Mars writers’ room where, when Kareem walked in, it [didn’t] sort of weird me out. It’s a stunning thing.”
Abdul-Jabbar and Obstfeld ended up co-writing Episode 6 of the revival (premiering in its entirety on Friday, July 26), and Thomas has nothing but praise for the duo: “They handed in a terrific script that I’m excited about,” he says.
View image on Twitter
Rob Thomas
✔@RobThomas
https://twitter.com/RobThomas/status/1044429232753979392
The #VeronicaMars writing staff!@DavidWalpert, @RickFoxTheActor, @rugz19, @kaj33 & Raymond Obstfeld.
And yes, if you’re brilliant and give yourself a #PartyDown Twitter handle, I'll hire you. Or, you could be the NBA’s all time leading scorer, but you must still be brilliant.
The most surprising face to join Hulu’s upcoming Veronica Mars revival might actually be behind the scenes: Last September, executive producer Rob Thomas revealed that the show’s writing staff includes none other than NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. (Check out the announcement tweet below.)
The former basketball icon is also a bestselling author who has written many books, including a novel about Sherlock Holmes’ brother Mycroft, in addition to contributing columns to various publications. But how did Abdul-Jabbar find himself penning dialogue for Veronica & Co.?“It’s kind of a crazy story,” Thomas tells TVLine. “He’s quite a Renaissance man… He wrote a column on the five young adult books everyone should read. One of those was my second novel, called Slave Day. I was so thrilled that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar named one of my books as one of the five books everyone should read. In that column, he said that he was both a Veronica Mars fan and an iZombie fan.”
While planning a re-release for Slave Day‘s 20th anniversary, Thomas’ editor at Simon & Schuster suggested that he ask Abdul-Jabbar to write the foreword. “I reached out to his management, and I got word back, ‘Hey, Kareem is happy to write the foreword to Slave Day, but he wants to play a zombie on iZombie,'” Thomas recalls. Thus was born the basketball star’s upcoming guest spot on the CW series’ May 9 episode as undead city councilman Zed.
Then over dinner, Abdul-Jabbar and his writing partner Raymond Obstfeld expressed interest to Thomas in developing a television show. “At a certain point, I said, ‘Well, you know if you do want to work in television, it would be great for you to get a little bit of experience. You’re both Veronica Mars fans. Do you want to come on the staff and see how a television show works?’ And so they did,” Thomas shares. “There was not a day in the Veronica Mars writers’ room where, when Kareem walked in, it [didn’t] sort of weird me out. It’s a stunning thing.”
Abdul-Jabbar and Obstfeld ended up co-writing Episode 6 of the revival (premiering in its entirety on Friday, July 26), and Thomas has nothing but praise for the duo: “They handed in a terrific script that I’m excited about,” he says.
View image on Twitter
Rob Thomas
✔@RobThomas
https://twitter.com/RobThomas/status/1044429232753979392
The #VeronicaMars writing staff!@DavidWalpert, @RickFoxTheActor, @rugz19, @kaj33 & Raymond Obstfeld.
And yes, if you’re brilliant and give yourself a #PartyDown Twitter handle, I'll hire you. Or, you could be the NBA’s all time leading scorer, but you must still be brilliant.