The 2000 TV series “The Fugitive” followed the success of the 1993 Harrison Ford-led movie of the same name, and it featured Chris Evans long before he became Captain America.
The crime thriller franchise has had several reboots since “The Fugitive” originally aired as a TV show in the 1960s. Ford’s film earned rave reviews from critics and general audiences, additionally ranking as the second-highest grossing theatrical release of 1993. The next installment of “The Fugitive” came in the form of a 23-episode first season airing on CBS from 2000 to 2001. The series starred Tim Daly as Dr. Richard Kimble, who goes on the run from police after being wrongly implicated in his wife’s murder.
Evans landed his second-ever TV role on “The Fugitive,” appearing in Episode 3 as a minor character named Zack, a rowdy jock who enters Richard’s bar with his friends and starts a brawl. This guest-star opportunity early on in Evans’ career happened five years before his breakout role as the Human Torch in Marvel’s “Fantastic Four” movie. Since “The Fugitive,” Evans hasn’t done much TV, though his performance in Apple TV’s “Defending Jacob” in 2020 is worth noting. Still, Evans’ movie career has brought him plenty of recognition.
The Fugitive franchise has run beyond the 2000 show
Tim Daly’s “The Fugitive” series was cancelled after one season, but the action franchise has continued to make comebacks. In 2020, the now-defunct streaming service Quibi premiered a limited series revival of “The Fugitive” starring Boyd Holbrook and Kiefer Sutherland. The show earned an 11% rotten score from Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the recent poor reception, another “The Fugitive” remake could be on the way. In 2019, a movie directed by Albert Hughes was reportedly in the works at Warner Bros., yet no official updates on production or casting have surfaced since.
Earlier this year, a rumor that Zendaya had been offered the lead role in “The Fugitive” reboot film came about, but nothing has been confirmed. Nonetheless, an IP with a history as lengthy as “The Fugitive” will likely require a seasoned movie star to command its next outing. Over two decades after “The Fugitive” TV revival aired, it’s cool to know that it briefly included Evans, now a veteran of the action genre in his own right.