Warner Bros. Animation, hugely energetic this yr at Annecy, unveiled Friday at Annecy a brand new “Dark Shadows” animated series, confirming the studio’s push in adult animation into other genres beyond adult comedy.
Reimagining the Sixties cult TV series, the show is in very early development stages, with Lisa Holdsworth, creator of Channel 4’s “Dreamers” and a author on Sky’s “Discovery of Witches” and BBC’s “Call the Midwife,” set as executive producer and showrunner. Cathy Curtis, Tracy Curtis, Eric Homan, Kevin Kolde and Fred Seibert function executive producers.
The announcement was made Friday at a WBA adult animation showcase at Annecy’s Mifa Market hosted by Shaleen Desai, senior VP, creative affairs, and Peter Girardi, executive VP, alternative programming at Warner Bros. Animation.
Bowing 1967, the supernatural family saga gained an enormous teen following after the introduction of member of the family Barnabas Collins, a vampire played by Jonathan Frid, becoming ABC’s highest-rating daytime series and spawning multiple spin-offs including a Tom Burton’s 2012 movie starring Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer.
The new edition is in development. It still stays to be seen what way Warner Bros. Animation will take the brand new series. WBA used the adult animation session so as to add more granularity to a few of its – and indeed Annecy’s – biggest announcements made this week on the French animation festival.
These took in a series development greenlight on “Absolute Batman,” adapting the favored comic book, and a series greenlight on DC’s first anime series “Joker: Laugh Riot” – plus series development on “Krypto,” enrolling a few of DC’s biggest super heroes and super villains across, as WPA noted, a wide selection of styles, tones and stories for audiences of all ages.
Announced Wednesday at Annecy, these major plays for Warner Bros. Animation and DC, followed on the world premiere of “Batman: Knightfall,” the primary instalement of a planned animated feature trilogy.
Considered one of the largest comic book events of the Nineties, starring Anson Mount and Michael Mando and unveiling a Robin we’ve barely seen in film before, it played to thunderous applause at Annecy on Tuesday Variety noted.
At its Friday adult animation showcase, Warner Bros. Animation and Hanna-Barbera studios also revealed first images of the Gerry Anderson-inspired puppet TV series “Hit Squad,” with extensive footage shown to an enthusiastic crowd.
“We’re truly joyful to bring this brand recent series, written by Gerry Anderson within the late Seventies, to the screen,” said Giraldi. ”With upgrades on the puppetry, and a mix of CG and practical effects, ‘Hit Squad’ blends motion with dark humor, brought forth by each Hanna-Barbera Europe and Warner Bros. Animation teams.”
Circling back to their recent Adult Swim family show “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” the WBA duo described the upcoming series as a part of “an emphasis on original stories, with character-based comedy bringing the ‘family comedy show’ genre to our long-time partners and friends at Adult Swim.”
Considered one of the fastest growing divisions at Warner Bros. Animation with titles reminiscent of “Harley Quinn,” ”Kiteman” and more, adult animation teams has been pushing the boundaries of each WBA and DC Studios legacy IPs while opening as much as recent animated narratives. “We don’t have a house style,” added Girardi. “As an alternative, we let the show dictate that.”
To prove the purpose, the duo shared previously revealed early development images of the upcoming “Absolute Batman” series, which got the Bonlieu on its feet during Wednesday’s DC Studios showcase.
An excellent truer testament to this approach is unquestionably “Get Jiro,” a project seven years within the making which has been one in all Annecy’s most-awaited projects for a very long time. Following up on its 2025 work-in-progress session, the duo treated attendees on Friday on the Volière, Mifa’s biggest venue, with a screening of the series’ first episode, unveiling the post-apocalyptic setting of this cuisine-revenge driven half-hour show.
Animation fans were in for a really tasty treat, because the episode introduced villains and set the tone for the brutal show adapted from the best-selling Vertigo series by the late Anthony Bourdain, co-created with Joel Rose.
John Hopewell contributed to this text.