New Knight Cast

Soap star Justin Bruening has been cast as the lead in NBC's effects-driven TV-movie continuation of Knight Rider, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Bruening will be playing the son of Michael Knight, the character played by David Hasselhoff in the 1982-86 NBC series. (I wonder who the mom will turn out to be?)

The new film, slated to air in the spring, is being described as a "back-door pilot" inspired by the success of the Michael Bay Transformers movie. So expect to see Bruening's automotive co-star, KITT, offering up a lot more than just the acerbic comments and occasional "turbo boost" the car was best known for in the first series, which was conceived by original Battlestar Galactica creator Glen A. Larson.

The update will be directed by Steve Shill (who's done episides of Dexter, The Tudors, Rome, and Deadwood, among others) from a script by Dave Andron (whose only other credit is the last aired episode of last spring's little-seen Jeff Goldblum supernatural series Raines). Doug Liman (the acclaimed director of Go, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and the forthcoming adaptation of Jumper) and Dave Bartis are executive producing.

Bruening left All My Children at the end of this summer when his contract ran out, after having played the hunky lothario Jamie Martin for four years.

No word on whether KITT will still be a black Pontiac Trans Am. Given the popularity of Dean Winchester's 1967 Chevy Impala on Supernatural, there's at least a chance the producers will hang onto the classic look.