Sellers returned to the series for a few films in the ‘70s, then died and was replaced in Trail of the Pink Panther with a clip show full of deleted scenes that resulted in a lawsuit, at which point 2we got a non-Clouseau movie featuring a new dim-witted law enforcement agent, played by Ted Wass, in the notorious bomb Curse of the Pink Panther. And not one to let this particular dead horse go unbeaten, director Blake Edwards tried again with 1993’s Son of the Pink Panther, starring Roberto Benigni as Clouseau’s secret Italian son. Audiences who had just seen Jurassic Park a few months earlier weren’t exactly wowed.
But as a reliable keystone of modern comedy, Martin could step into Sellers’ shoes with very little risk, not just because the bar for the series was lower than a Yorkshire Terrier by that point, but also, even if it didn’t work out, he could always go back to being Steve Martin afterward.
At the very least, Martin’s affability and modest success kept the franchise alive in the public consciousness … paving the way for the new, upcoming Pink Panther movie, reportedly about an “inspector who, thanks to a traumatic event, now has a pink panther for an imaginary friend” that’s in the vein of Sonic the Hedgehog, because we live in Hell.
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