Justin Lin to produce 'Knight Rider' digital reboot

LOS ANGELES -- NBC's '80s series Knight Rider is getting a digital reboot.

Machinima, the digital studio focused on fandom and gamer culture, announced Tuesday that it has partnered with Justin Lin's online brand YOMYOMF and NBCUniversal Brand Development to produce a new digital series.

The reboot is "in active development for a potential 2017 launch date," according to the news release.

The original series, which ran four seasons from 1982-1986, followed a smart car named KITT and driver Michael Knight (played by David Hasselhoff).

NBC tried to make a reboot of the show in 2008 but it only lasted a season.

Lin, known for Star Trek Beyond and several Fast & Furiousfilms, created his digital media company and blog YOMYOMF(YouOffendMeYouOffendMyFamily) to support Asian American and other unique voices and projects.

Since it's ‪inception, the company has garnered 72 million views across digital platforms.  Most recently, YOMYOMF recently partnered with Comcast/NBCUniversal to produce the Interpretations Film Initiative to support aspiring filmmakers. 

Machinima has produced many long form live action series based on TV shows and video game franchises, including: Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, Mortal Kombat: Legacy and Mortal Kombat: Legacy 2, Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist and Street Fighter: Resurrection, and Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn.  Combined, those series have amassed more than 300 million views on Machinima.

“KnightRider is an iconic franchise whose concepts of AI and autonomous vehicles were science fiction in the 1980s and are now science fact,” Machinima CEO Chad Gutstein said in a statement. “Justin is one of the leading storytellers of his generation and we couldn’t be more excited to work with him on re-invigorating KnightRider for a new generation of fans.”