Are you prepared to have your nostalgia zone stimulated? I certainly hope so because today during an update concerning what's to come for kids and family programming on HBO Max, Warner Bros. unleashed the first look at Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai concept art. The upcoming series is an animated prequel to director Joe Dante's beloved creature features Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Dante will serve as a consultant on the new series, which is being headlined by filmmaker and TKO Studios’ co-founder Tze Chun. In addition to his high-profile role at TKO Studios, Chun has contributed to shows the likes of Gotham, Once Upon a Time, and Little America.
Chun shared the new concept art on his personal Twitter account this afternoon, as a way of giving fans of the franchise a taste of the project's bold new direction:
Here's a synopsis for Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai:
In the animated television adaptation, we travel back to 1920s Shanghai to reveal the story of how 10-year-old Sam Wing (future shop owner Mr. Wing in the 1984 movie) met the young Mogwai called Gizmo. Along with a teenage street thief named Elle, Sam and Gizmo take a perilous journey through the Chinese countryside, encountering, and sometimes battling, colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore. On their quest to return Gizmo to his family and uncover a legendary treasure, they are pursued by a power-hungry industrialist and his growing army of evil Gremlins.
Written by Chun and executive produced by Darryl Frank (The Americans, Animaniacs, Amazing Stories!), Justin Falvey (The Americans, Animaniacs, Amazing Stories!), and Sam Register (Teen Titans Go!), with Chun and Brendan Hay (Robot Chicken, Harvey Girls Forever) acting as co-executive producers, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai will have Dan Krall serving as supervising producer.
My hope is that Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai will capture the spirit of the original films while adding its own unique magic to the classic formula. Taking the concept to a new and exciting location sounds like a great way to start and I'm curious to see if we'll be meeting any new species of Gremlin along the way.