Michael Mann’s 42-Year-Old Crime Thriller Series Being Rebooted By Austin Butler Quietly Returns As Streaming Hit

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Published May 17, 2026, 8:45 AM EDT

Matthew Biggin joined the Screen Rant team as a News Writer in 2021. He has also worked as a screenwriter and script editor, as well as contributing to various movie and TV blogs. Matt is a movie buff, Twin Dad, and football (soccer) enthusiast, who knows with absolute, categorical, iron-clad certainty, that Han shot first. 

Michael Mann's 42-year-old crime thriller series has quietly been enjoying streaming success, against the backdrop of a planned reboot.

Mann has forged a career across more than six decades as a writer, producer, and director, and is regarded as one of the most prominent voices in American filmmaking. He started out as a writer on the iconic Starsky & Hutch TV series, between 1975-77, before transitioning into feature films with his directorial debut Thief, which released in 1981.

Mann enjoyed global success with his 1986 Hannibal Lecter movie Manhunter, and the 1992 historical epic The Last of the Mohicans, starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Mann's career peak arguably came with 1995's cult crime drama masterpiece Heat, which featured an ensemble cast, and is famed for being the first on-screen pairing of legendary actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

While subsequent movies, such as The Insider, Ali, and Collateral cemented his status as one of the most interesting feature film directors in American cinema, Mann also boasts an impressive television resume as well. And one of his most iconic projects, which debuted on the small screen in 1984, has become a streaming hit, amid development of a reboot.

Miami Vice debuted on NBC in September 1984, running five seasons and 114 episodes on the network, before concluding in June 1989. Regarded as one of the most iconic and influential cop shows of all-time, Miami Vice launched the career of Don Johnson, and saw Mann serve as an executive producer and writer, as well as writing and directing a movie adaptation in 2006.

Miami Vice is now trending on the Apple Store PVOD's streaming charts, alternating between the top two positions since its May 13 debut. The success of the show comes even as the planned Miami Vice '85 movie reboot, starring Austin Butler and Michael B. Jordan, enters the pre-production phase.

Having big-named talent like Butler and Jordan sign on for the reboot could have had a big impact on spurring the iconic show to streaming success. Then there is the fact that Mann's long-planned sequel Heat 2 is also in the works, which also stars Butler, alongside Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio, and this has no doubt brought greater attention to the director's back catalog.

A show as iconic as Miami Vice needs no help in becoming a streaming hit, but the enduring prominence of Mann's filmography, and his reemergence on the scene will have played a big role. Hopes will be high that the streaming success of the show will fuel interest in the upcoming movie reboot, as well as Mann's other projects.

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