Rise From Your Grave!

A Look At The Actors Reviving The Dallas Franchise.

You've heard the story before: A corpse is exhumed, the parts are roughly slapped back together and then the creature is brought back to life. Well, prepare yourselves to experience it all once again.

Yes, as you've no doubt heard, this is the week that the old small-screen favorite, Dallas, comes lurching back into your life.

Maybe you're too young to remember the original? That's cool, so are we.

Here's what you need to know: Dallas was a show about a wealthy oil and cattle ranching family. It was originally slated to be a five-episode miniseries, but its popularity led to an additional 13 seasons and four Emmys. It was a soap opera in prime time. The Ewing family was the crux of the show — some of them were good, some of them were bad. Jock Ewing was the patriarch and he had three sons: Bobby, J.R. and Gary. Bobby and J.R. spent most of the show squabbling.

Bobby, played by Patrick Duffy, seemed to inherit all the good traits of his dad. On the other hand, J.R., played by Larry Hagman, mostly just loved money and power and would do whatever it took to increase both.

The cast was pretty huge over the 13 seasons, and the show relied on the season-ending cliffhanger pretty heavily. Surely, you've heard about its “Who Shot J.R.?” episode; it remains one of the most-watched programs in the history of television.

Anyway, now TNT is going to reboot the franchise. They've taken some of the original cast members, including Hagman and Duffy, and they'll be using them as a springboard for their now-grown children to take over the lead roles.

This time, instead of Bobby and J.R. bickering, we're going to get a whole lot of their kids doing that.

Sure, Larry Hagman and Patrick Duffy will be reprising their roles from the original show, and Linda Gray will be making her triumphant return as Hagman's alcoholic former beauty queen wife.

But who are these new faces that'll be reviving the once famous franchise?

Let's take a look at them and their prior acting experiences to see what we're in store for on the new-look Dallas.

Josh Henderson is J.R. Ewing, III.
Henderson will play the role of J.R. Ewing's son, and he's got some big boots to fill taking over the role that Larry Hagman once filled in the show. Luckily, his character is an apple that didn't fall far from the tree. Promos for the show imply that he'll be as likable a villain as Hagman was as J.R. in the original series, which is a good thing, to be sure.

How'd he get here? Well, Henderson was in a WB reality show called Popstars and then earned his way into some awful pop band formed through the show. They put out all of one album before disbanding. Maybe all that reality show scheming will help him full realize his soap opera potential?

Jesse Metcalfe is Christopher Ewing.
The adopted son of Bobby Ewing — and a soon-to-be alternative energy magnate — is played by former Passions and Desperate Housewives actor Jesse Metcalfe. On Passions, he played Miguel Lopez Fitzgerald, whose best friend at some point rapes him so that she can have his baby and make him her's forever. Yep, that was a real plot line.

Point being? Metcalfe should have the acting chops to handle a simple love triangle or two. Plus, he's durable: In 2008 at the World Music Awards, Metcalfe fell off a second-story balcony, and only fractured a fibula. The fall was blamed on champagne.

Jordana Brewster is Elena Ramos.
Brewster will be playing engineer Elena Ramos and is set to starr in a love triangle between the young Ewings. You'll recognize her from her work in the Fast and Furious series and from looking all scared in horror movies like The Faculty and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's reboot.

This accomplished actress has not one, but two Nickelodeon Kid's Choice awards to her name, too. Like Metcalfe, she spent the beginning of her career acting on soap operas, so she comes equipped for drama.

Brenda Strong is Ann Ryland Ewing.
Brenda Strong will be taking up the role of Bobby Ewing's new wife and Christopher's step-mom. Fans of Desperate Housewives will recognize her, no doubt, but early in her career she had a small bit part as a nurse in Spaceballs, although, you'd miss her in that role if you blink at the wrong time. Strong also had a guest appearance in two episodes of Blossom and a small role in Twin Peaks.

We're most familiar, however, with her work on Seinfeld, where she played Sue Ellen Mischke, the arch nemesis of Elaine and the heiress to the Oh Henry! candy bar fortune. Mischke was also famous on the show for not wearing a bra. We think Ann Ryland Ewing will play things a little classier.

Julie Gonzalo is Rebecca Sutter.
Julie Gonzalo will be playing Rebecca Sutter, girlfriend of Christopher Ewing. She hasn't done much, but Julie has been in two movies with Jamie Lee Curtis. Yes, two: Christmas with The Kranks and Freaky Friday. With that kind of a resume, she's bound to be pretty dynamite, right?

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And there you go. Your new Dallas cast is a veritable who's who of people who have acted in soap operas, both daytime and primetime. Plus, at least one new cast member who was in Spaceballs.

What could possibly go wrong?

Look for Dallas to premiere on TNT tomorrow night.