History of Lucan

Image credit: Purchased and scanned from the original 1977 MGM Television press materials by VoyagerG Productions. Please link back to lucantv.blogspot.com if sharing.

What was the Lucan TV Show about?

Lucan was an American television drama series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1978. The series starred actor Kevin Brophy as a 20-year-old man who spent the first ten years of his life running wild, raised by wolves in the remote forests of Northern Minnesota. After being rescued and civilized at a university research center, Lucan sets out on a journey across America to find his true identity and his biological parents.

Air Dates and Production History

The show began as a popular made-for-TV pilot movie, which originally broadcast on Friday night, May 22, 1977, as a mid-season replacement. Due to strong ratings, ABC ordered it to series. It officially ran as a prime-time television show for 11 episodes before being canceled in 1978. The series was produced by MGM Television and featured a unique blend of fugitive-style drama, superhero-like heightened senses, and philosophical questions about human nature versus wild instincts.

Plot Whiplash: The Many Revisions of Lucan

Unfortunately, LUCAN (1977) was repeatedly put on hiatus and bounced between Monday and Tuesday nights. This, sadly, never allowed the series to develop a substantial audience or fan base. Although initial press releases touted it as a "mini-series," the show kept being retooled, and the final episode doesn't offer the closure a mini-series would. 

 

3 months after the Pilot aired, LUCAN (1977) returned as a weekly television series. The first change had Lucan hunted down by a Bounty Hunter and returned to the University because he may pose a danger to the public. 

 

After another short absence, Lucan was retooled, and a fugitive spin was added to the plot. Lucan was now hunted by the same Bounty Hunter, now a Police Lieutenant, for a crime on campus that he didn't commit. The series took even more cues from The Incredible Hulk (1977), and both shows were inspired by two other TV classics – The Fugitive (1963) and Kung Fu (1972).

 

LUCAN (1977) was a semi-anthology series because the titular character didn't stay in one place for long. LUCAN (1977) boasted an impressive array of guest stars. Stockard Channing and Ned Beatty played a father and daughter in the Pilot, and familiar TV actors such as Don Gordon (Prentiss), John Randolph (Dr. Hoagland), Robert Reed, Regis Philbin, Leslie Nielsen, Celeste Holm, and Stephanie Zimbalist appeared.

Lucan: Wild Child of the Superhero Age

LUCAN (1977) aired during the burgeoning superhero genre of television – The Six Million Dollar Man (1973), Bionic Woman (1976), Man From Atlantis (1976), The Incredible Hulk (1977), Wonder Woman (1975), Captain America (1979), Spiderman (1977), The Secrets of Isis (1975), Shazam (1974) et al … competed on the airwaves with varying degrees of success during the 1970s.

In 1978, Superman: The Movie turned the superhero genre on its ear. Since then, everything has attempted to live up to and surpass its greatness in both extraordinary effects and storytelling.

Lucan, the character, isn't a superhero; he doesn't wear a cape or costume. He prefers moccasins, jeans, and a brown leather jacket. He's relatively honest about his identity. He sees no reason to lie. Lucan is reminiscent of Tarzan for his "wild child" ways, of David Banner from The Incredible Hulk (1977) for his good-samaritan, wandering lifestyle, and of Mark Harris from Man From Atlantis (1977) for his wise but straightforward worldview grounded in nature. 

There are shades of Spiderman in his character – A young college student who gets a "spider" sense when there's trouble. In this instance, Lucan has a "wolf" sense. And just a pinch of X-Men's Wolverine – he reverts to animalistic behavior when cornered or protecting someone.

Sabu as Mowgli in The Jungle Book (1942)

Perhaps above all the character's inspirations, Lucan is like the twentieth-century version of Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling's famous novel The Jungle Book (1894). Mowgli is a bright-eyed and perceptive Indian boy raised by wild animals in the jungle.