tone." Home media Shaft it was released on VHS, followed by a DVD release in June 2000, and a Blu-ray release in 2012. The Criterion Collection released a new Blu-ray in June 2022, featuring a 4K restoration of the film. Sequels and reboot Shaft initially had two sequels called Shaft's Big Score! (1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973), with "neither capturing the soul of the original", according to author Howard Hughes. An additional sequel, and part remake, was released in 2000, also called Shaft, starring Samuel L. Jackson as the title character, and Roundtree appearing as his "Uncle" John Shaft. The earlier sequels were followed by a short-lived 1973–1974 television series titled Shaft on CBS. Richard Roundtree was the only person to ever play John Shaft, appearing in all four films and the television series. Ernest Tidyman wrote six Shaft novel sequels, including Goodbye, Mr Shaft and Shaft's Carnival of Killers. In February 2015, TheWrap reported that Shaft would be rebooted by New Line Cinema with John Davis producing the new film. In July 2015, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow would be writing the script, Davis and Ira Napoliello would be producing, and Richard Brener and Samuel J. Brown would direct. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film "will have a comedic tone but will retain its action roots". When he was asked about that characterization of the film, Davis said "It's drama, but it's going to be drama with a lot of fun moments. A lot of lighter moments." In January 2017, Deadline reports that Tim Story will direct the film, a sequel, which will follows the son of John Shaft. In August 2017, it was revealed that Richard Roundtree and Samuel L. Jackson would reprise their roles from the 2000 film, and Jessie T. Usher would portray J. J. Shaft, the son of Jackson's character. Roundtree's character would no longer be the uncle, but Jackson's character's father John Shaft Sr. In November 2017, the film was revealed to be entitled Shaft and was released on June 14, 2019. Pop culture references Already in 1972, Pam Grier's character in Hit Man starred in a pornographic film she believed was a screen test for Shaft. On The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Shaft is the idol of the fictional Will Smith, and several episodes make references to the film. In one episode Will denies that Shaft