A&E is revisiting the paranormal. With a “Ghost Hunters” revival imminent and orders for four more ghostly shows underway, the network is tapping into the current fascination with everything spooky and unexplainable.
Picked up for 20 episodes, the “Ghost Hunters” revival from Lionsgate’s Pilgrim Media Group brings back one of the most successful paranormal series of all time following its original 12-year run on Syfy. It will debut on its new network on Wednesday, Aug. 21.
Original cast member Grant Wilson will return for the new series with a new group of professional ghost hunters, which includes Daryl Marston, Kristen Luman, Brandon Alvis, Mustafa Gatollari, Brian Murray and Richel Stratton.
In addition to “Ghost Hunters,” remakes of “Psychic Kids” and “Celebrity Ghost Stories” have also been greenlit at A&E, along with one new original series, “Trey the Texas Medium,” and the new two-hour special “World’s Biggest Ghost Hunt.”
“A&E has been on the forefront of programming in the paranormal space and with that success, we have been eager to bring the genre back to the network for some time,” Elaine Frontain Bryant, head of programming for A&E Network, said in a statement. “Each of these series has a unique point of view, but will collectively give our audience a window into a world of spellbinding stories that have to be seen to be believed.”
The original “Psychic Kids” ran for three seasons on A&E between 2008 and 2010, chronicling the lives of children with “extraordinary abilities.” The eight-episode new series centers on those original kids, now successful young adults, as they work to empower a new generation of young psychics alongside trained licensed therapists.
“Trey the Texas Medium” centers on Trey Ganem, a carpenter and casket maker who moonlights as a medium. The series has been picked up for 12 episodes set to premiere this fall.
“Celebrity Ghost Stories” follows paranormal storyteller and world-renowned psychic-medium Kim Russo of “The Haunting Of” fame as she brings “some of the biggest names in entertainment” back to the sites of their paranormal experiences. It has been picked up for six episodes.
Per A&E, “World’s Biggest Ghost Hunt” is a two-hour special and “the longest continuously filmed paranormal investigation in television history,” and will see five paranormal investigators locked inside the legendarily haunted Pennhurst Asylum in Pennsylvania for two weeks to document unexplained recent reports of paranormal activity.