We are very pleased to report that after several years of various states of development hell, a feature film based on Brian Jacques‘ best-selling “Redwall” book series is finally happening! If you’ll recall, an animated film project titled “Mouse Guard” based on the same material was happening. That film was gonna star Idris Elba, Andy Serkis, Samson Kayo, Jack Whitehall, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Sonoya Mizuno, but ultimately got scrapped by Disney.
Just this morning, Netflix announced a partnership with Penguin Random House Children’s UK to bring a “Redwall” movie to the streaming service, as well as an event series based on the book.
Along with this morning’s news, Netflix also released a piece of concept art from Pierre Breton, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.
While the official announcement doesn’t say whether this film will be animated or live-action, we can assume it’ll be the former.
“Over The Garden Wall” creator Patrick McHale (Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio“) is helming the film project, as well as an event series based on the character of Martin the Warrior.
Ben Horslen, Fiction Publisher, Penguin Random House Children’s UK said of the news:
“We couldn’t be more delighted to announce this deal. These perennially popular stories have been etched onto the hearts of millions of readers, and we are thrilled to partner with Netflix to bring those beloved characters on screen for families worldwide to enjoy.”
Alan Ingram of The Redwall Abbey Company, who hold the rights of all of Jacques’ works, said of the news:
“Brian often travelled the globe to tell his Redwall stories to young audiences, more often than not at their schools. Brian would have been very happy to see that Netflix shares his joy and desire to bring his stories to life as a new universe of films, series and potentially much more for audiences of all ages to enjoy. We are very excited to embark on this new endeavour with Netflix and Penguin Random House UK.”
If you need a refresher on the Redwall series, Amazon has this amazing bundle of all the stories available here.
We will let you know what else we hear about this project.
