James Garner and Jack Kelly had been 29 and 30 years old, respectively, at the beginning of the original series and were 50 and 51 while filming The New Maverick. The TV-movie was a pilot for the series Young Maverick, which featured Frank and only lasted a few episodes. Directed by Hy Averback and written by Juanita Bartlett, the movie was filmed while Garner's series The Rockford Files was on hiatus. Garner would later star in Bret Maverick, another attempt at a series revival inspired by this TV-movie, for the 1981-82 season.
Garner wrote in his memoir that the film "didn't quite make it," calling it "a near miss."[1]
