X-Men: Apocalypse actor Lucas Till to play MacGyver in upcoming CBS reboot

Lucas Till has been cast as lead character MacGyver in an upcoming reboot of the classic show, brought back to the small screen by CBS. The X-Men: Apocalypse actor will star alongside Law & Order: Special Victims Unit guest actor Joshua Boone, who has also come aboard the drama as Gunner, MacGyver's best friend from high school.

The network's new take on MacGyver is currently being described as a re-imagining of the 1980s-spawned television series of the same name, this time following a 20-something MacGyver (Till), much younger than Richard Dean Anderson's agent when the Emmy-nominated show first began. As expected, it will detail just how he becomes recruited into a covert organisation, in which he later uses his knack for solving problems in unconventional ways to help prevent disasters from happening.

Actor Richard Dean Anderson originally played the lead. We can only hope Till also grows an equally as impressive mullet... CBS Television Distribution

The official casting ends a week-long search by CBS that was complicated by the fact that the network picked up the pilot without a script, after opting for a new pitch from a different writer who was initially attached to the project when it was put in development.

Originally written by R Scott Gemmill (ER), the new take comes instead from screenwriter Paul Downs Colaizzo and Brett Mahoney (The Following). Henry Winkler, who was executive producer on the original series, is on board to serve in the same capacity alongside Michael Clear, head of production at James Wan's Atomic Monster. Wan (Saw, The Conjuring) will exec produce. Californication's David Von Ancken is reportedly set to direct the pilot and also exec produce alongside original MacGyver creator Lee Zlotoff.

Across his career, Till has been best known for starring opposite Miley Cyrus in family film Hannah Montana: The Movie, guest roles in shows such as House and Medium, as well as the music video to Taylor Swift's You Belong With Me. It wasn't until 2011 however that he really became a relatively familiar name, after he brought to life Marvel mutant character Alex Summers AKA Havok in X-Men: First Class. Since then he has appeared in movies such as Stoker alongside Nicole Kidman and Paranoia with Harrison Ford.

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