AI
Cue the dramatic boardroom music — because the Trump TV machine might be warming up again, whether Hollywood’s coastal elites like it or not.
Word on the street is that Amazon is quietly kicking the tires on reviving The Apprentice, the smash-hit show that turned Donald Trump from Manhattan mogul into a household name long before he ever stepped into the Oval Office. And the possible new boss in the boardroom could be none other than Donald Trump Jr.
According to chatter out of The Wall Street Journal, the idea of a reboot started floating around right as Trump launched his second presidential term — timing that’s raising eyebrows and, predictably, blood pressure in certain political corners. Amazon MGM Studios, fresh off its mega-bucks spending spree on a glossy Melania Trump documentary, has reportedly been batting around what to do with the Apprentice brand it scooped up when it bought MGM in 2022.
Let’s not forget: this is the same company that shelled out a jaw-dropping $75 million tied to that Melania project — including a hefty production budget — proving that, love them or hate them, the Trump name still prints money in entertainment.
Nothing is official. Amazon says no host has been chosen, and no one from the Trump family has even been contacted. This is still in the “kicking ideas around the conference table” phase. But the mere possibility is enough to send the usual suspects into a tizzy.
Amazon already tested the waters last year by re-releasing old Apprentice episodes on its platform — a move some insiders say came after renewed public interest following Trump’s 2024 election victory.
An Amazon spokesperson kept things carefully corporate, saying, “Since our acquisition of MGM, we have had preliminary internal discussions about what’s next for ‘The Apprentice’ as a property,” while stressing that no reboot is currently in development. That’s PR-speak for: don’t rule it out.
Behind the scenes, studio boss Mike Hopkins has reportedly been steering Amazon content toward a broader audience — including faith-based programming and other middle-America-friendly fare. In other words, content that doesn’t just preach to the usual Hollywood choir.
And then there’s the Melania factor. Director Brett Ratner’s film about the former First Lady actually made it to the finish line, complete with a flashy premiere and solid box office chatter. Not bad for a project that had critics sharpening their knives before the opening credits even rolled.
Of course, the political class wasted no time crying foul. Senator Elizabeth Warren fired off a familiar broadside: “If there’s nothing corrupt about this deal and the bidding process was truly ‘competitive,’ why won’t Amazon explain why it reportedly paid three times as much as the next highest bidder? The logical explanation is that Amazon is trying to buy the President’s favor by dumping millions into the Trump family’s pockets. This looks like bribery in plain sight, and Amazon must give Congress — and the American people — answers now.” There it is — the “bribery” buzzword, right on cue.
But here’s the uncomfortable truth for Trump critics: in a media landscape desperate for ratings, the Trump brand still delivers. Whether it’s politics or primetime, audiences keep showing up. And in the streaming wars, eyeballs are currency.
So if Amazon does pull the trigger on an Apprentice reboot, don’t expect it to be about politics. Expect it to be about business — the kind where controversy sells, nostalgia hooks viewers, and the phrase “You’re fired” might just make a comeback. Love it or loathe it, the boardroom door isn’t closed yet.
