Martin Scorsese’s 'The Departed' may soon continue as a TV series

Warner Bros.

"The Departed," though widely regarded as a cinematic classic and one of Martin Scorsese’s finest, may soon be equally known as a classic of the small screen. "Departed" producer Roy Lee, who also boasts credits on polar opposites "The Lego Movie" and "The Ring," teased the possibility of a presumably Leonardo DiCaprioless TV version of the gritty Boston crime classic in a just-released interview with Collider. 

"That’s what attracted me to the story," Lee says of the "amazing" concept at the center of Scorsese's 2006 film and its equally great source material, the 2002 Hong Kong thriller "Internal Affairs." "[It’s] the two moles working on either side of the law, and translating that idea into other settings with new characters, like how 'Fargo' has taken the feel of the Coen Brothers’ film."

According to Lee, discussions with potential writers regarding a television series have already taken place, with the focus on which path—network or cable—would best suit the tone of the possible series. "So it’s not anything like 'The Departed,'" Lee tells Collider of sending the action to a new city, "but essentially 'The Departed' as a TV series."

Though Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, and Mark Wahlberg were all more-than-welcome players in the 2006 production, they will (of course) likely have very little to do with this proposed series. However, as the internet has already decided, perhaps Lee should give Russian Leo a call to make the seemingly impossible return of Leo's character a TV reality.

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