It’s been twenty years since Everybody Loves Raymond went off the air, but it is still beloved by millions of fans to this day. Now that we live in a time when countless beloved shows are being rebooted, many fans have been hoping that Everybody Loves Raymond would get the same treatment.
Sadly, these loyal fans just got some bad news on this front from the Everybody Loves Raymond stars Ray Romano and Patricia Heaton.
Romano Talks Everybody Loves Raymond Reboot
Everybody Loves Raymond aired from 1996 until 2005. Last week, Romano and Heaton celebrated thirty years of the sitcom at the The Paley Museum in New York City. They were joined by the series’ creator Phil Rosenthal and Maggie Wheeler. You might remember that Wheeler had a guest role as Linda Gruenfelder.
When asked about a potential Everybody Loves Raymond reboot, however, Romano and Heaton were quick to shoot this down.
“No, there won’t be a reboot,” Romano, 67, told The New York Post on the red carpet.
Romano went on to say that while there are a couple reasons a reboot isn’t in the cards, one stands out from all the rest.
“The obvious is Peter [Boyle] and Doris [Roberts] and one of the kids — they’re no longer with us,” Romano said. “We’re all heartbroken. They’re a big part of the show, the dynamic.”
Boyle played Romano’s onscreen father Frank Barone. He died in 2006 at the age of 71 from multiple myeloma and heart disease.
Meanwhile, Roberts portrayed Boyle’s TV wife and Romano’s mother Marie Barone. She passed away in 2016 at the age of 90.
Sadly, Sawyer Sweeten, who portrayed one of Romano’s twin sons (Geoffrey Barone), took his own life in 2015. He was only 19 years-old.
“Without them, I don’t know what the dynamic is,” Romano explained. “We love the show too much, we respect it too much to even try to do it.”
Related: Ray Romano Explains Why He Never Wants ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ To Be Rebooted By Hollywood
Heaton Weighs In
Heaton. 67, was quick to agree with her former onscreen husband.
“To try to do it again without the cast members that we’ve lost would be a disservice to the show,” she said. “You shouldn’t try to go back and redo something that is pretty much perfect. We need to just leave it there and let people enjoy it for what it was.”
Heaton went on to say that Romano and Rosenthal, 65, chose to end the series when they did because “they felt like they’d really done all of the stories.”
“They have a lot of integrity in that way,” Heaton concluded. “The network would have wanted us to go for three more years, but they didn’t want to run the show into the ground.”
Brad Garrett Talks Potential Reboot
Brad Garrett, who played Romano’s onscreen brother Robert Barone, made similar comments when asked about a potential Everybody Loves Raymond reboot earlier this month.
“There won’t be,” Garrett, 65, told People Magazine of a reboot. “And I’m just saying that because that’s something that Ray and Phil [Rosenthal, the show’s creator] have always said.”
“There is no show without the parents,” he continued, referring to Boyle and Roberts. “They were the catalyst, and to do anything that would resemble that wouldn’t be right to the audiences or to the loyal fan base. And it was about those two families, and you can’t get around that.”
Though a reboot won’t be happening, Garrett is still incredibly grateful for Everybody Loves Raymond.
“I know [the reboot] won’t happen, but 30 years later, I got very lucky to get on that bus,” he concluded. “I’m very grateful.”
While it’s disappointing that Everybody Loves Raymond won’t be rebooted, we can’t argue with the cast’s reasoning as to why it won’t happen. In the end, perhaps it’s better for those who miss the show to just rewatch old episodes!
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