Portia de Rossi will star in a shelved reboot of the TV comedy The Munsters, which is being resurrected as a Halloween special.

TV bosses poured an estimated $US10 million into creating a pilot episode of a revamped version of the cult classic, starring Jerry O'Connell as Herman Munster, de Rossi as his vampire bride Lily, and Eddie Izzard as Grandpa Munster.

The show, titled Mockingbird Lane, spent two years in development before bosses at US network NBC decided against ordering a full series and the project appeared to have been shelved.

However, they have now made plans to bring the show back to TV by resurrecting the pilot episode as a Halloween special, due to air in the US on October 26, according to The Hollywood Reporter.