The Apprentice May Return, Somehow Worse than Ever
According to The Wall Street Journal, the company’s studio division has been having early internal discussions about a possible reboot of The Apprentice—yes, that The Apprentice—except this time the boardroom throne might be occupied by Donald Trump Jr. Yikes.
To be clear, this is reportedly still in the very early stages, and the Trump family hasn’t even been approached yet. So this is by no means a done deal. It is, however, one of those insanely awful ideas only the entertainment industry could whip up, so all we can really do is wait. If the reboot moves forward, it would presumably be on Amazon Prime Video.
The Amazon of it all is disappointing, but not exactly shocking. This is the same company that distributed Melania Trump’s documentary earlier this year after reportedly paying $40 million for the project—a number that raised plenty of eyebrows, mainly because it was said to be three times higher than the next highest bid (for a film that’s sitting with a 10% Rotten Tomatoes score). The WSJ also reported that Melania’s own cut was more than 70%, which is the kind of deal most documentary subjects can only dream of.
And then there’s Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and current executive chairman, whose public proximity to Trump has become impossible to ignore. Remember Amazon contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, and Bezos has been spotted orbiting various high-profile Trump events, looking very bald and important. Clearly he’s recognized the strategic value in cozying up to the second Trump administration. He was even spotted at the White House dinner honoring King Charles this week.
As for The Apprentice, Amazon told the WSJ that “since our acquisition of MGM, we have had preliminary internal discussions about what’s next for The Apprentice as a property.” And if you’re wondering why Amazon is calling the shots, it inherited the show’s library when it bought MGM in 2022, and in March 2025, the streamer released old episodes after Trump returned to office. For anyone (blessedly) too young to remember, the original NBC series ran for 14 seasons and helped transform Trump to international stardom. So basically, it was the most destructive TV show in history.
Interestingly, this type of reboot would fit neatly into Amazon’s increasingly obvious attempt to…let’s say “broaden” their appeal to more conservative-curious audiences, as it competes with Netflix, HBO, and Hulu. Have you noticed the uptick in religious and right-coded programming floating around the Prime queue?
Reboots are everywhere right now: The Devil Wears Prada 2, Freakier Friday, Scrubs, even the entire Harry Potter series. Some are nostalgic. Some are unnecessary. Some threaten to trample the memory of the original. But The Apprentice starring Don Jr.? That might be the rare reboot that ruins the past, present, and future all at once.