The ‘Murder on Gilligan’s Island’ Storyline That Never Made It to TV
What To Know
- Gilligan’s Island inspired numerous sequels, spinoffs, and TV movies, but a planned murder-mystery special featuring famous detectives was never produced.
- Attempts to revive the franchise, including a feature film, have repeatedly stalled due to legal issues, creative disagreements, and the passing of key figures.
- Director James Gunn and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman once pitched a dark, cannibalism-themed reboot, but both Sherwood Schwartz and his estate rejected the idea.
Gilligan’s Island only ran for three seasons, from 1964 to 1967. But the show’s pop culture staying power wasn’t just due to it being incredibly popular in syndication — it was also the subject of frequent sequels and spinoffs, including three made-for-TV movies in the ’70s and ’80s, as well as two animated series, all of which involved the majority of the original cast members. But there was one spinoff that creator Sherwood Schwartz was never able to get off the ground: a special where one of the castaways was murdered, and famous TV detectives convened on the island to find out whodunnit.
Everett Collection
In his 1988 book Inside Gilligan’s Island: From Creation to Syndication, Schwartz wrote, “Perhaps my biggest disappointment of all is that I’ve never done the special I wanted to do for several years: Murder on Gilligan’s Island. It would be a two-hour film in which one of the Castaways is supposedly murdered. A group of famous detectives would come to the hotel on the island to solve the mystery. I wanted to use four or five famous detectives from literature, or four or five famous TV detectives. That’s not a likely special anymore. On the other hand, with Gilligan’s Island, you never know.”
(And yes, fans of Peter Falk and 1970s mystery films may note that that plot idea sounds fairly similar to the 1976 film Murder by Death.)
There hasn’t been a new major Gilligan revival since 1981’s The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island, unless you count the 2004 reality show The Real Gilligan’s Island, in which contestants competed in island-based challenges. But that doesn’t mean that there haven’t been attempts. In a 2025 interview with Woman’s World, Lloyd J. Schwartz, son of Sherwood Schwartz, said, “We’ve been trying to get a movie made since 1988 … Over the years, so many people have come and gone, executives have made promises, key figures have passed away—it’s a long, sad and often ridiculous story.” In 2013, an attempt to make a Gilligan’s Island feature film starring Josh Gad ended when a screenwriter who claimed to have written a similar script sued the studio.
Among those people who have come and gone: James Gunn, super-director of superhero cinema like Guardians of the Galaxy and the 2025 Superman revival, who wrote in a pair of since-deleted 2021 tweets that he and acclaimed screenwriter Charlie Kaufman had at one point tried to get a “gritty” update of the show made, which would depict realistic struggles about life on a desert island and involve … cannibalism.
From Gunn’s X.com account:
“A true story: In the late 90’s screenwriting GOAT Charlie Kaufman pitched a movie version of Gilligan’s Island where the islanders, starving & desperate, started killing & eating each other. Warner Bros wanted to do it – but Sherwood Schwartz, the creator, said no way.
After Guardians I tried to resurrect the idea & wanted to direct. It seemed Warners & Charlie were interested but, this time, the estate of the late Sherwood Schwartz nixed it. Anyway, if the Schwartz estate changes their mind, I’m here.”
Gives a whole new meaning to “if not for the courage of the fearless crew”!
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