Steven Weber Says He’d Return for a ‘Wings’ Reboot: ‘Of Course I’d Be Interested’

Lauren Novak August 9, 12:00 pm

Steven Weber in Wings TV show and in 2026 — Paramount Television/Courtesy: Everett Collection; Paul Archuleta/Getty Images

Steven Weber spent eight seasons playing charming but irresponsible pilot Brian Hackett on Wings. Nearly 30 years after the sitcom’s 1997 finale, he still has plenty of affection for the show and recently admitted that he would also happily return to Nantucket if a reboot ever gets off the ground.

Weber attended a panel at Flashback Weekend Chicago, and ReMIND caught up with the current Chicago Med star afterward to ask whether there had been any talk of bringing Wings back. His answer was short and direct: “No.” Another question, though, is whether he would want to do it?

“Of course, of course, yeah, it’s work, and it’d be fun,” Weber replied. He was realistic about what it would take to make a revival happen, however. “It would take somebody with connections to the industry that really cares about it and sees money in it because that’s all they care about now,” he explained. “But of course I’d be interested, but I wouldn’t know who to talk to about it.”

Steven Weber Called Wings a “dream job”

WINGS, Steven Weber, Crystal Bernard, Tim Daly, Farrah Forke, Rebecca Schull, Thomas Haden Church, David Schramm, Tony Shalhoub, 1990-97.

Paramount Television / Courtesy: Everett Collection

Wings premiered on NBC in 1990 and ran for 172 episodes before signing off in 1997. The series followed brothers Brian and Joe Hackett, played by Weber and Tim Daly, who operated a small commuter airline on Nantucket.

At his panel when asked what it was like working on the sitcom, Weber called it a “dream job.” “I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s and loved watching sitcoms,” he shared. “And so to be on a sitcom on NBC when it was Must See TV, to be part of that world was fantastic.”

While Wings shared NBC’s schedule with some of the biggest comedies of the era, Weber acknowledged that it did not always receive the same attention as shows such as Cheers, Frasier, Friends and Seinfeld. “Wings itself was never the hottest, edgiest, sexiest show,” he said. “We were always sandwiched between those hotter shows, but we seemed to have stood the test of time.”

The surprising Wings guest star

WINGS, front from left: Oliver North, Steven Weber, 'Take My Life, Please,' (Season 3, Episode 18, aired Feb 27, 1992), 1990-97

Paramount Television/Everett Collection

Weber also praised the show’s cast and the many different performers who visited Nantucket during its eight-season run. “Great cast, and so many great actors came through,” he said during the panel. “When you’re on a show like that for so long, you get everybody from every facet of the industry.We had classically trained actors and we had low comedians.”

While trying to remember one especially surprising guest star, Weber needed a little help from the audience before landing on Oliver North. “Oliver North was on the show,” Weber recalled. “He’s a head-scratcher.” North played himself in the Season 3 episode “Take My Life, Please,” which aired in February 1992.

At the time, North was one of the most recognizable and controversial news figures in the country. The retired Marine lieutenant colonel and former National Security Council staffer had been at the center of the Iran-Contra affair. His televised testimony before Congress in 1987 helped make him a household name, making his appearance on a lighthearted NBC sitcom especially unexpected.

Those never-ending USA Network reruns

The show received another life on cable after USA Network acquired the exclusive rights to 116 episodes in 1993. By 1995, Variety described the channel as “saturating its schedule” with Wings reruns.

The sitcom even became the target of a memorable joke on The Simpsons. In the 1993 episode “Brother From the Same Planet,” a television announcer begins promoting that night’s episode of Wings before suddenly giving up with, “Ah, who cares?”

Still, Wings left a bigger mark on television than it sometimes receives credit for. Modern Family co-creators Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan both worked as writers on the series before going on to create their own television hits, according to The Television Academy.

Weber also remains in contact with several members of the cast. “Tim and I are close,” he said. “Amy Yasbeck and I, Tony Shalhoub, yeah, we all talk.” Whether or not a reboot ever happens, Weber is grateful that audiences continue to discover and revisit the show. “It was such a privilege to be a part of,” he said.

Wings is currently streaming on Paramount+ or airs daily on Antenna TV or Rewind.

— Reporting by Karen Ruud