The Ewing family returns in TNT’s Dallas revival

TNT’s Dallas revival brought the Ewing family back to prime-time television in a series centered on wealth, family conflict and the industries associated with the city’s most famous fictional dynasty. Developed by Cynthia Cidre and produced by Warner Horizon Television, the drama aired from June 13, 2012, through September 22, 2014.

The series continued the legacy of the earlier Dallas, the CBS soap opera created by David Jacobs that ran from 1978 to 1991. Rather than leaving the original characters behind, the revival combined familiar faces with a younger generation whose relationships extended the Ewing family story.

Patrick Duffy returned as Bobby Ewing, while Linda Gray reprised her role as Sue Ellen Ewing. Larry Hagman also came back as J.R. Ewing, placing one of the original show’s central figures in the newer series. The revival additionally featured appearances from other performers connected to the earlier program, including Ken Kercheval as Cliff Barnes, Steve Kanaly as Ray Krebbs and Charlene Tilton as Lucy Ewing.

The production also drew on the wider Dallas television universe. Ted Shackelford appeared as Gary Ewing and Joan van Ark as Valene Ewing, characters associated with Knots Landing, the spin-off series linked to the original Dallas.

At the center of the revival’s next generation were three characters tied to the Ewing and Barnes families. Josh Henderson played John Ross Ewing III, the son of J.R. and Sue Ellen Ewing. Jesse Metcalfe portrayed Christopher Ewing, Bobby and Pamela Barnes Ewing’s adopted son. Julie Gonzalo played Pamela Rebecca Barnes, whose family connection further linked the newer storyline to the series’ long-running rivalries.

The show’s premise remained rooted in the Ewing family’s affluent world and its oil and cattle-ranching businesses. That setting gave the revival a direct connection to Dallas as a place in the series’ identity, even as its narrative focused on inheritance, competing family interests and the tensions between established characters and their successors.

For viewers encountering the series as a standalone drama, the revival offered a mix of continuity and transition: returning actors carried forward recognizable family roles, while younger characters became the vehicle for a new chapter. For longtime fans, the appearances by original cast members and figures from Knots Landing provided links to the earlier television franchise. The series concluded its run on September 22, 2014.

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Further links listed by the Wikipedia page (not independently checked): - https://www.facebook.com/DallasTNT - https://web.archive.org/web/20151226073041/http://www.tntdrama.com/shows/dallas.html - https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/us/dallas-now-on-tnt-is-really-filmed-in-dallas-this-time.html - https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2012/11/24/larry-hagman-dallas-iconic-jr-ewing/1723837/ - https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerfriedman/2012/04/25/dallas-creator-david-jacobs-says-hes-been-excluded-from-tnt-reboot/ - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007N0IJWG/ Image rights Photograph description: Firefly crew and myself Creator: Alex Archambault from Dallas, Texas, US. License: CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0). Original image page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFirefly_crew_and_myself.jpg. The image was resized for display; no other changes were made.