One of television's premier cooking competitions is returning to the kitchen arena for another round of culinary clashes. Per Deadline, Netflix is resurrecting Iron Chef for a new series titled Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, an eight-episode, "supersized" edition of the show that ups the ante on the already extreme bouts the show was known for. Currently, there is no planned release window for the new series.
The Iron Chef competition originated on Japan's Fuji Television back in 1993 and featured guest chefs stepping into the show's iconic Kitchen Stadium for a themed cooking battle against the titular "Iron Chefs" to win "the people's ovation and fame forever." Each episode would see chefs given sixty minutes to improvise a multi-course meal that incorporated a specific ingredient. The show became a smash hit in the U.S. thanks to Food Network's Iron Chef America which ran from 2005 to 2018 and spawned a myriad of spinoff shows capitalizing on the competitive cookery. Many of Food Network's biggest names appeared on the show along with acclaimed chefs worldwide including Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Wolfgang Puck, and many more.
The reboot is run by producer Daniel Calin who's no stranger to cooking competitions having worked on MasterChef USA, Top Chef, and Nailed It! Keller Productions and 3 Ball Productions are producing the series which means former Iron Chef director and executive producer Eytan Keller will be back to resume his previous roles for the series. Joining him as executive producers are Calin and Ross Weintraub.
Iron Chef was beloved as much for its unique take on the gastronomical gauntlet format as it was for its character. The original Japanese iteration featured the ever-colorful Takeshi Kaga as the Chairman who employed the Iron Chefs and had the Kitchen Stadium built. That feature was carried over to America, with Marc Dacascos taking the role of the Chairman's nephew and the new head of the competition. It's unknown if a new take on the Chairman will appear in the reboot or how exactly Quest for an Iron Legend will mix up the formula.
We're still lacking a lot of details regarding when Quest for an Iron Legend will release or who the five Iron Chefs will be.
For now, here's the official description for the series' grand return on Netflix:
The legendary Iron Chef series is reborn with a supersized approach to the ground-breaking culinary competition that started it all. It’s been called the toughest culinary challenge a chef will ever experience. This is where world-class cuisine meets high-octane sports. Five new trailblazing Iron Chefs will welcome brave Challenger Chefs to the reimagined Kitchen Stadium, where they’ll face off and be pushed to the limits of endurance and creativity, as they cook up extraordinary culinary creations. The competition’s most successful Challenger will return to battle in a grand finale for the chance to be named the first ever ‘Iron Legend.'