Nobody asked for a reboot of 7th Heaven, but we’re getting one whether we like it or not—and original series star Jessica Biel says they’ll update it for the modern era. “What we want to create, how we want to modernize it, is really the things that are happening for teenagers and families that have teenagers all the way down to the youngest child—technology-based issues, school stuff, bullying stuff, drugs, alcohol,” Biel said during an appearance on Collider Ladies Night. “All of those things we want to address in a very real way, which is, I think, what the original kind of gently touched on, but we were very careful about what our audience wanted. We had a lot of limitations. We have less limitations now. We still want to keep the DNA of what it was, where you can sit down and watch with your families, but we’re not going to hold back, I think, as much as we did before.”
The original 7th Heaven ran for 11 seasons between 1996 and 2007 and centered on a reverend named Eric Camden (Stephen Collins) and his wife, Annie Camden (Catherine Hicks), raising their kids of varying ages in suburban California. Biel starred as Mary Camden, the second-eldest child. Variety reported in May 2025 that CBS Studios was in the early stages of developing the reboot, with Biel executive producing under her Iron Ocean production banner and Anthony Sparks serving as the showrunner and executive producer. The original series was one of The CW’s (then The WB’s) most successful and longest-running shows during the network’s heyday and gave Biel her big break in Hollywood. But the show’s legacy has become tainted after Collins admitted in 2014 to having inappropriate sexual conduct with three underage girls.
The reboot seems to be distancing itself from Collins and his character. The new version will reportedly center on a diverse family and won’t include the original cast. Biel told Collider that the original series’ biggest strength was its family-friendly nature, and that the show fills a void in wholesome, faith-based programming. “I think the idea of whatever faith you want to have, that’s important,” she said. “That we don’t have a lot on television, whether you believe that or go down that road or not. There are a lot of people that really do want to walk down that road, so I think some kind of faith, some kind of family, community, and maybe something not so jaded, like something a little bit more glass-half-full.”
Keep scrolling for more great stories.