The Queen of Mystery is back—and she’s deadlier than ever. Jamie Lee Curtis, the scream queen turned dramatic force, steps into Angela Lansbury’s legendary shoes as Jessica Fletcher in the explosive 2025 revival of Murder, She Wrote. Premiering on NBC October 15, 2025, this eight-episode reinvention isn’t your grandmother’s cozy whodunit—it’s a sleek, high-stakes thriller where small-town secrets collide with global conspiracies, blending Lansbury’s charm with Curtis’s razor-edge intensity. Joined by George Clooney and Tom Selleck, Curtis delivers a fearless, razor-sharp performance that’s part tribute to the original’s 12-season run, part revolution that catapults the franchise into the modern age. Every clue cuts deeper. Every ally could be the killer.

The original Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996) was a cultural juggernaut, averaging 25 million viewers with Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher solving 264 murders in quaint Cabot Cove. Creator Peter S. Fischer’s formula—amateur sleuthing amid tea cozies and red herrings—earned 12 Emmys and Lansbury a Guinness record for most episodes starring a character. But as Fletcher retired to book tours, the void lingered. Enter Curtis, 66, whose Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar proved her range. “Jessica’s not baking cookies anymore—she’s baking schemes,” Curtis teased at the New York premiere. “Angie’s grace is my foundation; my edge is the new roof.”

The revival picks up in present-day Cabot Cove, where Jessica, now 80-something but sharper than ever, uncovers a cold case tied to her late husband’s unsolved death. What starts as a local poisoning spirals into an international web: Russian oligarchs laundering money through Maine fisheries, a tech mogul’s AI “truth serum” blackmail ring, and Fletcher’s own family entangled in the deceit. “Small-town secrets meet global games—Jessica’s out of her element, but right at home,” said showrunner Alexandra Cunningham (Dirty John). Curtis’s Fletcher is a revelation: Lansbury’s wry wit laced with post-menopausal fire, her typewriter now a laptop hacking encrypted files.

Clooney, 64, slinks in as Fletcher’s suave nephew, a disgraced CIA operative with a grudge against the cabal; Selleck, 80, reprises Lt. Frank Cannon in a meta-cameo, his grizzled wisdom clashing with Jessica’s digital savvy. The ensemble crackles: Rising star Ayo Edebiri as Jessica’s millennial protégé, injecting tech-savvy snark, and British import Dev Patel as a charming suspect whose flirtations mask a dagger. Filmed in Vancouver’s misty coves doubling as coastal Maine, the visuals evoke Christie cozies with Homeland paranoia—foggy docks hiding dead drops, quaint inns harboring hitmen.

Cunningham’s scripts honor the original’s procedural pulse while amplifying stakes: A mid-season embassy bombing implicates Jessica’s team, and the finale betrayal redefines loyalty. “It’s tribute and terror,” Curtis said. Critics previewing episodes rave: “Curtis’s Jessica is Lansbury reborn—deadlier, wittier,” per Variety, scoring 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Murder, She Wrote‘s revival isn’t nostalgia—it’s resurrection. Curtis’s Fletcher doesn’t just solve murders; she shatters illusions, proving mystery queens age like fine Scotch: smoother, stronger, lethal. In a world of reboots, this one’s a revelation. Tune in October 15—the ink’s dry, but the blood’s fresh.