The animated series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, which serves as a prequel to the 1984 classic Gremlins (watch it HERE), is set to premiere on the HBO Max streaming service sometime in 2023, and will air on the Cartoon Network later. A panel promoting the show was just held at the San Diego Comic-Con today, and during the event it was announced (Deadline reports) that the voice cast includes Zach Galligan, who played Billy Peltzer in Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch! Galligan will not be providing the voice of Billy on this show, though. He’s voicing a new character, and the details on the character are being kept under wraps.
Galligan said,
I can’t say too much but because it’s 1920s China, I’m not playing Billy because he wasn’t around. So I’m playing this cool character. It was really fun and amazing to work with a new group of creative people who are taking a fresh look at the franchise and are expanding the mythology—who knows what they’re going to add. Maybe they’ll add a new transformation or a new rule we don’t know about yet… I think Gremlins fans are going to eat it up.”
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai tells the story of
how naïve 10-year-old Sam Wing (the future mysterious Chinatown shopkeep Mr. Wing in the original live-action flick), 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.
In addition to Galligan, the voice cast includes Izaac Wang, Ming-Na Wen, BD Wong, Matthew Rhys, A.J. LoCascio, Gabrielle Green, and James Hong.
Chun also wrote Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai and serves as the showrunner. In addition to Chun and Hay, the show is executive produced by Sam Register and Amblin Television’s Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. Dan Krall is supervising producer. Amblin is producing the series in association with Warner Bros. Animation. Gremlins and Gremlins 2 director Joe Dante is a consulting producer on the series.
It’s cool that they have brought Galligan back to be a part of this show, even though it’s set sixty years before Gizmo and Billy meet.
Are you looking forward to Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai? Are you glad Galligan is in the voice cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.