Angela Lansbury Teases Returning For One Final "Murder, She Wrote"
Pack your bags for Cabot Cove.
Angela Lansbury was interviewed by the Irish newspaper, The Sunday Post, and when the actress was asked about her legendary career, she talked about her various roles, including the one she played for 12 years: Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote.
“It was first seen on television in September, 1984, with a two-hour pilot and it was an immediate success,” Lansbury recalled. “I was amazed at how successful it was. I never believed it would run for 12 years."
Lansbury also remembers how grueling it was being the star of a long-running TV show:
“I would not want to take anything away from Murder, She Wrote but when you are the principal in something like that you have to work incredibly hard to help keep it fresh. My life totally revolved around it. There was hardly any time off and certainly no time or energy for doing anything else."
Though it ran for over a decade, fans were still grief-stricken when CBS canceled the beloved the series in 1996. Jessica Fletcher would eventually return for four Murder, She Wrote TV movies, the last one airing in 2003.
“I was in genuine tears doing my last scene,” Lansbury revealed. "Jessica Fletcher had become so much a part of my life, it was difficult to come to terms with it being all over. Having said that, there have been some two-hour specials since we stopped in 1996 and I wouldn’t be surprised if we got together just one more time.”
Did she just give us hope that Jessica could come out of retirement for one final case?
A Murder, She Wrote reboot starring Octavia Spencer was in the works at NBC with Spencer playing a hospital administrator and amateur sleuth who self-publishes her first murder mystery novel. The Peacock network eventually killed the remake, much to the relief of Lasbury:
“I think it’s a mistake to call it Murder She Wrote, because Murder, She Wrote will always be about a Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people who told those lovely stories and enjoyed a piece of that place, and also enjoyed Jessica Fletcher, who is a rare and very individual kind of person."
Murder, She Wrote might have left the airwaves back in 2003, but Jessica Fletcher has lived on in bookstores for years with a popular series of mystery novels "written by Jessica Fletcher and David Bain" that have been published since 1989.
Since TV revivals are so in right now, a return to Cabot Cove isn't out of the question, but one mystery even Jessica Fletcher can't solve is: how long do we have to wait before the revival becomes a reality?
If you need more Lansbury to hold you over until Jessica Fletcher returns, keep your eyes peeled for her role as the Balloon Lady in 2018's Mary Poppins Returns.