Any hope for an Everybody Loves Raymond reboot has been extinguished by star Brad Garrett.
The 65-year old, who appeared in the sitcom as Robert Barone, addressed rumours of a reboot while attending the premiere of his new film. Disney Pixar’s Elio.
Garrett said the main reason the show could never return is due to the deaths of Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts, who played Romano’s parents in the series.
Roberts died aged 90 in 2016, while Boyle died in 2006, shortly after the show ended. Roberts won four Emmys for her performance as the feisty matriarch, Marie.
“There is no show without the parents,” Garrett told People. “They were the catalyst, and to do anything that would resemble that wouldn’t be right to the audiences or to the loyal fan base. And it was about those two families, and you can’t get around that.”
Everybody Loves Raymond, which starred Ray Romano as the titular character, ran between 1996 and 2005.
The popular series followed Raymond’s life as a sports journalist and a busy family man, and was celebrated for its comic depiction of family life in Long Island, New York.
Although Garrett said he’d never reprise his role of Romano’s brother, he said he feels “very grateful” looking back at his experience, adding: “I know the reboot won’t happen, but 30 years later, I got very lucky to get on that bus.”
Romano previously shared his thoughts on the possibility of a reboot.
“As far as a reboot, well, it’s now out of the question because unfortunately the parents are gone: Peter Boyle and Doris Roberts,” he said on Real Time with Bill Maher back in 2023.
In recent years, various US shows received the reboot treatment, with examples including And Just Like That, a continuation of Sex and the City , HBO Max’s doomed Gossip Girl revamp and Frasier, which was axed by Paramount after two seasons.
Romano said of reboots in 2023: “They’re never as good. We want to leave our legacy with what it is.”
