Disney is in full swing making all kinds of announcements for Disney+ Day, which is all about its (mostly) successful streaming service. Among the many reveals is that Disney is making a TV show based on The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of fantasy books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.
Your field guide to a world of fantasy. #TheSpiderwickChronicles, a new live-action Original Series based on the best-selling books, is coming to #DisneyPlus. #DisneyPlusDay pic.twitter.com/AbDkEPntZV
— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) November 12, 2021
The first book in the series, The Field Guide, came out in 2003 and was followed by The Seeing Stone, Lucinda’s Secret, The Ironwood Tree and The Wrath of Mulgarath. There was also a second series of books: The Nixie’s Song, A Giant Problem and The Wyrm King. So Disney has a lot to work with.
The Spiderwick Chronicles is about the Grace Family — twin brothers Jared and Simon, sister Mallory and mother Helen — as they move into their dilapidated ancestral home and unravel a dark mystery about a distant relative who discovered a foreboding faerie world existing parallel to their own. It sounds a little like Locke & Key over on Netflix, and indeed, Locke & Key executive producer Aron Eli Coleite is the showrunner. Take that, Netflix.
Nickelodeon and Paramount adapted The Spiderwick Chronicles as a 2008 movie starring Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, Martin Short and Seth Rogen, but it didn’t really go anywhere. There’s no release date set for The Spiderwick Chronicles show as of yet.
Warwick Davis introduces the new cast of Willow
The Spiderwick Chronicles isn’t the only fantasy show Disney+ has a-brewin’. They’re also reviving the 1988 movie Willow, with actor Warwick Davis back to introduce the cast:
In addition to Davis, who reprises his role as aspiring sorcerer Willow Ufgood, the Willow show stars Ruby Cruz, Erin Kellyman, Ellie Bamber, Tony Revolori, Amar Chadha Patel and Dempsey Bryk. It’s due out on Disney+ sometime in 2022.
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