BRANDNEW CRISTAL C
Are you ready for ‘Dynasty’ without shoulder pads?
DYNASTY Wednesday, 9 p.m., The CW SERIES PREMIERE AN the glittering dinosaur that is “Dynasty” be revived? “Gossip Girl” creators Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz have adhered to the original greed-is-good principle of the series but reduced the age difference between the generations of Carringtons and changed the gender and ethnicity of some core characters. Cristal (Nathalie Kelley), the new bride of global energy mogul Blake Carrington (Grant Show), is only a few years older than his daughter Fallon (Elizabeth Gillies) and Hispanic. Cristal’s nephew Sammy Joe (Rafael de la Fuente) was her niece in the original and was played by Heather Locklear.
Savage spoke to The Post about the show’s rebirth for millennials.
What were the challenges in retooling this show for a generation that may not have seen the original?
CBS was in control of the option to remake the show. When they were exploring the possibility of doing it again, it was too great an opportunity to pass up. We needed to make changes to how the story was put together, using those core characters, for the audience now.
Was it tough to convince Grant Show to step into John Forsythe’s shoes as Blake Carrington?
Not at all. He really got how iconic that character was and wasn’t afraid of the fact that there was an aspect of Blake that was villainous.
SammyJo is a man this time. Why?
When we were pitching ways we could update the characters, one of the things that writer Sallie Patrick pitched is that Sammy Jo could be a guy. I was like, “Heather Locklear is my spirit animal.” Then I came around and saw how smart and fun it would be.”
In the original “Dynasty,” Krystle was basically a good person. Your Cristal seems mean. What’s up with that?
She’s not mean. She’s feisty! She’s not taking crap from Blake’s daughter or anybody else. When we were reframing the show and decided on a younger Cristal, we gave her an important job at Blake’s company and interesting secrets. Our Cristal has a little of Alexis’ DNA from the beginning. So will there be an Alexis at some point? There will be an actual Alexis.