If you grew up reading Animorphs books from the Scholastic book fair in the late 90s, today is a pretty good day. Variety broke the news that a brand new Animorphs television series is now in early development at Disney+, and the people attached to it are genuinely excited. Ryan Coogler, the filmmaker behind Black Panther and Creed and the recent Oscar-winning film Sinners, is set to executive-produce the show through his production company Proximity Media.
Joining him as executive producers are his wife, Zinzi Coogler and his producing partner, Sev Ohanian, also from Proximity Media. The writer and showrunner attached to the project is Bayan Wolcott, who will also executive produce. Scholastic, the publisher that put out all 54 original Animorphs books, is also involved through executive producers Lucchese and Caitlin Friedman. The studio behind the project is 20th Television.
The logline of the new show is about a group of teenagers who find a dangerous hidden threat in their daily lives, and also manage the craziness that goes with being high school teenagers, apart from the threat, like relationships, getting grounded, etc. That does not fully describe the strange concept of Animorphs, which is an alien invasion, the ability to change shape, and a secret rebellion made up of children who can change into any animal they touch.
Coogler and Proximity Media have an overall television deal with Disney; this project is one more example of how they are developing their relationship. As part of that overall TV deal, Ryan Coogler is also developing a reboot of The X-Files TV show for the Hulu streaming service, which has Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel in the lead roles. Coogler developing both projects at once is a good indication of how productive things are at Proximity Media currently, particularly considering their most recent success, Sinners, which won four Oscars earlier this year. Coogler won the award for best original screenplay for Sinners.
What the original Animorphs books were about and why they matter?
For those unfamiliar with the books growing up, Animorphs was a science fiction series written by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant (her spouse). The first book (Invasion) was published in 1996, and the last book (Beginning) was published in 2001; there are 54 books in the main series.
There are also companion novels in addition to the main novels, such as The Hork-Bajir Chronicles and The Andalite Chronicles and the addition of these two volumes enriched the world created by the two authors. Over 35 million copies of the series have been sold globally and demonstrate the impressive impact that the series has had on a generation of young people.
Five kids meet up and find out that the Earth has been secretly invaded by Aliens. The Yeerks are a parasitic species that invade and control humans by entering the human brain. There is a small group of people who know about this.
Five teens run into an alien from a group called the Andalites. The Andalites have been at war with the Yeerks all across the galaxy. The dying Andalite gives the teens the ability to shape-shift into any animal after touching and absorbing an animal’s DNA. The teens use this new power to help fight against the Yeerks and secretly fight the invasion. They later meet Ax, an Andalite who accidentally became trapped on Earth. All the books were written from a first-person perspective by one of the main characters, so there is a good variety of characters and experiences.
What has been done with Animorphs before, and what Disney+ is doing with it?
Animorphs has had previous television productions in the past. The live action series ran for two seasons on Nickelodeon from 1998 to 2000, and featured Shawn Ashmore, Brooke Nevin and Boris Cabrera among other actors. While the show has its fans, it is largely seen as somewhat of a product of its time, due to limited special effects because of the relatively small budgets for TV shows at that time. There was also an attempted movie adaptation of Animorphs in 2020 that did not come to fruition.
Disney+ has been going all in when it comes to adapting YA books lately. The Percy Jackson show is one of Disney+’s biggest shows right now, and it is going into season 3 next year. They are also doing work to make a live-action version of Eragon.
The streamer previously showed two seasons of a Goosebumps series that was widely favoured. Animorphs, which has many fans and a good story to go with it, sit well within this group of shows. The fact that Coogler is attached as a creator adds to the interest and anticipation.
Edited by Sohini Biswas