Disney+ is gearing up for a new Animorphs TV series, with Proximity Media’s Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian executive producing, Variety has confirmed. The series is in early development, and Bayan Wolcott is attached to write and executive produce.
The official logline describes the story as following “a group of teenagers who uncover a hidden threat lurking beneath their everyday lives, all while juggling relationships, curfews, and the chaos of high school.”
The beloved Animorphs books, created by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant, chronicle the adventures of Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias. They encounter a dying alien from the Andalite race, who gives them the ability to morph into any animal they touch, setting them on a secret mission to stop the parasitic Yeerks from taking over Earth. Ax, a young Andalite stranded on Earth, later joins the group. The series ran for 54 main books from 1996 to 2001, with companion novels like The Hork-Bajir Chronicles and The Andalite Chronicles, selling over 35 million copies worldwide.
Proximity Media’s Simone Harris, vice president and head of TV, and Dezi Gallegos, director of development for TV, overseeing the project. Scholastic, which published the original book series, is also involved, with Iole Lucchese and Caitlin Friedman serving as executive producers. 20th Television is producing the series.
Wolcott, who previously worked as supervising producer on Hulu’s The Testaments and wrote for FX’s Class of ’09, is repped by UTA, Echo Lake Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman. Coogler, fresh off his Oscar-winning film Sinners, is also developing a pilot for a X-Files reboot at Disney+, starring Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel. He is repped by WME, M88, The Lede Company, and Cohen & Gardner.
If it moves forward, this would be the second TV adaptation of Animorphs. The first was a live-action Nickelodeon series that aired from 1998 to 2000, starring Shawn Ashmore, Brooke Nevin, Boris Cabrera, Nadia Nascimento, Christopher Ralph, Paulo Costanzo, and Eugene Lipinski. A film adaptation was also attempted in 2020 but never materialized.
Disney+ has recently become a home for YA adaptations, currently airing Percy Jackson in its third season and preparing a live-action Eragon series. The new Animorphs will introduce a fresh generation to the series’ mix of sci-fi adventure, moral complexity, and high-stakes action.