'In Treatment' Reboot Being Explored At HBO

According to a new report, HBO is considering a reboot of In Treatment, the Gabriel Byrne-starring show about a therapist who takes daily appointments with patients and who also meets with his own therapist. The series kicked off in 2008 and ended in 2010 after three seasons, and it was notable at the time for being one of the rare dramas that aired a new episode five nights a week on HBO.

TVLine reports that the premium cable channel is "exploring" an In Treatment reboot – though it's still so early in the process that it's unclear if Byrne will return to reprise his role as Dr. Paul Weston, the lead of the initial three seasons. Should HBO or the yet-to-be-revealed showrunners not be interested in bringing Byrne's character back, a new version of the show could easily work without him. The format, which essentially featured two characters talking to each other from across a room for each episode, might benefit from following a new therapist this time around, so audiences can learn more about the new person's backstory as the series goes on instead of having to enter a fresh batch of episodes remembering all of the details of Weston's life.

Plus, as TVLine points out, this show is especially well-suited to work in the era of the coronavirus pandemic. Its structure means there aren't very many characters or locations, which should make it comparatively easy for the production to film safely and efficiently – and there's even the chance that the characters could do remote sessions to cut down on the amount of times the actors and crew step foot in the same spaces. Here's the trailer for the HBO iteration of the series:

This report doesn't talk about whether this new In Treatment will, like the earlier take, be rolled out once per weeknight, but HBO doesn't typically take that type of release approach with its shows these days. But in an era where people are hungry for content, maybe a new episode per night is just what the doctor ordered.

It's good to be Hagai Levi right now. He's the guy who created the Israeli TV drama series BeTipul, which served as the inspiration for the original run of In Treatment, so one assumes he'll be involved with this new iteration – or, at the very least, getting a hefty rights check and an executive producer credit. A week ago, it was announced that Levi would be serving as the executive producer, writer, and director of Scenes From a Marriage, a remake of Ingmar Bergman's 1970s TV series. Not a bad seven day stretch!