Inside Move: WB to resurrect 'Dark Shadows'
Wells to exec produce project, Verheiden to pen pilot

Barnabas Collins may live again.
The WB is close to making a put pilot commitment to a new incarnation of "Dark Shadows," the legendary ABC vampire sudser from producer Dan Curtis. Curtis is teaming up with John Wells to exec produce the new take on "Shadows," being developed by Warner Bros. TV and John Wells Prods. for the 2004-05 season as a primetime drama.

Mark Verheiden, the "Timecop" creator who now serves as co-exec producer of the WB's hit "Smallville," is set to write the pilot. Details of the new take are under wraps, with all parties involved declining comment since a formal deal is still being hammered out.

Project would not rep the first time Curtis has resurrected "Dark Shadows." Property aired as an NBC miniseries and series in winter 1991, with Ben Cross playing vampire Collins.

Original sudsers aired on ABC from 1966-71 and focused on the wealthy and mysterious Collins family of Collinsport, Maine. It spawned two feature films.

CAA reps Wells and Verheiden, while Endeavor reps Curtis.