Jessica Biel Says the New 7th Heaven Will Tackle Phones, Bullying and Drugs

Jessica Biel says the 7th Heaven reboot will take on technology, school life, bullying, drugs and alcohol, and that it will do so more openly than the original show.

Biel is executive producer on the new version. A reboot is a fresh start on an old show, usually with new characters and a new cast. She made her comments in late October 2026 on a recent episode of Collider's Ladies Night, according to Variety.

The original 7th Heaven ran for 11 seasons and nearly 250 episodes. It debuted on The WB in 1996 and ended in 2007. Brenda Hampton created it, and Aaron Spelling produced it. It followed the Camden family, seven children and their parents, in the fictional town of Glen Oak, California, where the father, Eric Camden, was a Protestant minister.

Biel said the original show touched on some of these issues gently. It was careful about what its audience wanted, and it had many limits. "We have less limitations now," she said. She added that the new version still wants to keep the core of what made the first one what it was, according to Yahoo Entertainment.

Her plans for the producing side are just as direct. As a producer, she said, she wants to create a safe place where people can be very creative and very vulnerable. Deadline reported her remarks on the approach.

The project has been in the works for a while. Deadline reported in May 2025 that the reboot was in development at CBS Studios. At that point, the deals were still being finalised and the project was at an early stage. Variety first broke the news of the reboot that same month.

Variety has also reported, citing sources, that the new series would focus on a diverse family and that none of the original cast members would appear.

For viewers who grew up with the Camdens, the most striking part of Biel's comments is the change in tone. The first show had to tread carefully. Biel says the new one does not.