Jane Seymour has provided an update on plans to recreate her famous 1990s television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
In a new interview with The Messenger, Seymour, who featured as the eponymous Dr. Michaela “Mike” Quinn in the 1800s-set series, stated that one unnamed network recently passed on the idea, claiming that “they weren’t interested in Westerns.”
“We’ve actually got one [episode] written, and we’ve got the whole series planned out,” he remarked. “We just took it to one of the networks, and they said that they weren’t interested in Westerns.”
“I think it’s really crazy,” she said. “There seems to be a lot of very successful Westerns, so I didn’t get that at all.”
Indeed, there have been a number of popular Western dramas in recent years, most notably Taylor Sheridan’s megahit Yellowstone, which has resulted in multiple spinoffs.
There’s also the historical drama Outlander, which started on Starz in August 2014 and is currently in its seventh season. The show has been compared to Dr. Quinn because it follows Claire Randall, a former Second World War military nurse in Scotland who is transported back to 1743 in 1945.
Outlander has taken place in a variety of time periods and locales, many of which are set in the 18th century, including Scotland, Paris, Jamaica, and North Carolina. Interestingly, Toni Graphia, who works as a producer and writer on Outlander, co-produced 30 episodes of Dr. Quinn.
Dr. Quinn centred on Seymour’s Dr. Michaela Quinn, a physician who left Boston in 1867 in pursuit of excitement in the Old West, eventually settling in Colorado Springs, Colorado. From January 1, 1993, to May 16, 1998, the show aired on CBS for six seasons, resulting in 150 episodes and two subsequent television features.
‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’ stars Joe Lando as Sully and Jane Seymour as Dr. Mike.
Seymour added that amid her efforts to resurrect the show, it was recently proposed that she set it in a more modern era.
“It was pitched to me last night, believe it or not, to do Dr. Quinn as a contemporary piece,” Seymour told the audience. “I’m saying, ‘Why?’ Dr. Quinn’s entire thesis is that life hasn’t altered much from the 1870s to the present in some areas. In other words, extremely significant. However, many of the same flaws persist now, which I believe was what made it so amazing.
Seymour won a Golden Globe for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in 1996 for her performance as Michaela Quinn. She also garnered several Primetime Emmy nominations for her performance.
“When it came out, even the network didn’t believe in it, but the audience found it,” Seymour told me. “I believe the audience enjoys content on the human condition. So, certainly, Dr. Quinn had medicine. Yes, it was period. But it was also incredibly intellectual in that it talked to what was truly going on historically at the time, rather than what the tale books would tell us.”
Speaking about Dr. Quinn’s appeal, Seymour stated, “There were many different elements, as well as the concept of different types of family. I believe that if it is true and relates with the human condition, regardless of genre, it will be highly popular.”
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