In the days of reboots and remakes, it's pretty easy to label the film as one or the other. However, everyone on set was very adamant that the film wasn't trying to retcon any of the previous works in the franchise at all. In fact, the desire to modernise the agency came from Elizabeth Banks's personal enjoyment of the franchise.
"I've always loved Charlie's Angels — I loved the TV show and I loved the films," she said. "I wanted to tell a female-fronted story, and I felt like it's a brand name that is meaningful to women and girls, but also highly entertaining to all audiences. I really felt like I could make a global movie about women working together that could be really entertaining and cool. I wanted to cast a movie with really fresh faces, and I wanted a global audience to feel like they could see themselves in the film."
Obviously, the film stands a bit apart from its predecessors in that it's more advanced in terms of technology and organisation. But Max Handelman emphasised that the cast and crew strove to "honour the original legacy of Charles Townsend Agency and what that all means" with the project, while still taking into account how things would have to change with time.