The Greatest American Hero reboot casts Hannah Simone of New Girl as lead

The Greatest American Hero is one of many big revivals / reboots being planned potentially for the upcoming broadcast season, and we now know for certain who is taking on the new version of the leading role.

Per a report from Deadline, former New Girl star Hannah Simone is taking on the part that was played in the original version of the series by the legendary William Katt. Her role here is Meera, an Indian-American woman who is still searching for the meaning of life at the age of 30. She’s not necessarily the sort of person you would want to entrust saving the world to (reliability is in question here since she can’t figure out what to make of herself without powers), but this is sometimes precisely what happens sometimes within the superhero subgenre. You often have the most unlikely of people having to figure out on the fly precisely what they want.

Rachna Fruchbom and Nahnatchka Khan of Fresh Off the Boat are currently in the process of developing this project as a single-camera comedy pilot for ABC; Simone’s comedy stylings should fit right in given that she has the comic timing for the role. With the right training, she should be more than capable of handling the action.

We don’t foresee the new version of the show gender-flipping the main role to be a big issue; the larger problem is whether or not there’s just going to be room for another superhero show in the midst of all the others that are out there already. While we’ve heard buzz for years about a potential new Greatest American Hero, we never really got the sense that the buzz was going into overdrive. We don’t know what the mainstream demand is; the ratings for some of the superhero shows that are already out there are really not all that great to comfortably succeed beyond just on The CW.

For now, what do you think about Hannah Simone being the new The Greatest American Hero star? Do you think that this casting can work? Share right now in the comments below!