Sacré bleu! Will Ferrell is brushing up on his French for a live-action adaptation of the cult cartoon series Totally Spies! at Amazon! Ferrell is executive-producing the YA adaptation based on the Banijay Kids animated show. Totally Spies! focuses on Clover, Alex, and Sam, three international spies executing life-threatening missions while navigating a turbulent first year at college. Totally Spies! is like Charlie’s Angels with a French twist, Clueless-like humor, and Mission: Impossible-style action.
The Totally Spies! live-action project is from Amazon MGM Studios and Banijay Kids & Family. Amazon’s head of Pan-English original content, Rola Bauer, is leading the charge. Will Ferrell executive produces alongside Jessica Elbaum and Alix Taylor through Gloria Sanches Productions. Banijay Kids & Family CEO Benoît Di Sabatino also executive produces.
“Totally Spies!’ is a huge success for Banijay Kids & Family, having been translated in 60 languages and sold to more than 220 territories,” Di Sabatino said. “With a social media base of 3 million, the series continues to thrive in its animation form with the recently launched 7th season. Rola Bauer approached me for a live-action adaptation, and we were thrilled to partner with Amazon MGM Studios. With her, Ludovic Attal, and Punit Matoo’s support, we are honoured to join such a stronghold of female-focused producers in Gloria Sanchez Productions to produce for Prime Video.”
While Totally Spies! could go under most people’s radar, the show is a smash overseas. Created by Vincent Chalvon-Demersay and David Michel, the first iteration of Totally Spies! is close to airing 200 episodes of cheeky spy shenanigans. The animated series paved the way for a prequel film, Totally Spies! The Movie and the spinoff The Amazing Spiez! The spinoff is in its seventh season in France, with the show coming to U.S. Cartoon Network later this year. To prime kids and parents for the live-action adaptation, episodes of Totally Spies! are streaming on Prime Video now.
With Will Ferrell executive producing the live-action Totally Spies!, the series could display a level of absurdist comedy that previous installments did not have. Totally Spies! has always been funny, but Ferrell comes from a different line of comedians. Can Ferrell and friends thread the needle of keeping Totally Spies! authentic while adding a new twist on the fan-favorite spy setup? I suspect so.