Channing Tatum joins Jonah Hill on 21 Jump Street

From the late ’80s until the early ’90s Fox aired a certain cop drama where police officers with baby faces went under cover daily as high school students to nip crime in the bud, you know, to catch criminals early in their careers. It was called 21 Jump Street and I’m probably the biggest fan of the series you will ever meet. In fact, the show stays in my Netflix queue. I think an updated, big screen remake is a marvelous idea. Apparently directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are of the same mind, because they, along with producer Neal H. Moritz, and writers Jonah Hill and Michael Bacall are making it happen.

Deadline.com reports two actors are signed for the project. They are Superbad‘s Jonah Hill and Dear John‘s Channing Tatum. Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, announced the news, saying, “Jonah helped create a smart and funny vehicle that is tailor-made for him and Channing. They are a perfect duo for this film and Phil and Chris have a terrific, accessible take on the material. We love how this movie has come together and are very excited to begin production this spring.”

Johhny Depp starred in the original 21 Jump Street as straight-laced Officer Tom Hanson. He was quick to fight and liked to play sax in his spare time. In practically no time at all the Jump Street team transformed Hanson (and his oh so gorgeous pre-Robert Pattinson hair) into someone who could pass for a Breakfast Club-esque Judd Nelson bad boy.

The rest of his team were made up of the Peter DeLuise playing the adorable, but somewhat big and dim Doug Penhall, the sassy Judy Hoffs portrayed by Holly Robinson (The Talk), and Dustin Nguyen as martial artist Harry Truman Ioki. Frederic Forrest played the team’s first boss, Captain Richard Jenko, but he was later replaced with no nonsense Captain Adam Fuller, acted by Steven Williams (The X-Files). My favorite character was the late edition to the team, Richard Grieco as Officer Dennis Booker, who began as a bit of rival for Depp’s Officer Hanson, and really embodied the moody ’80s bad boy.