Animorphs Is Back: Disney+ Developing Series With Ryan Coogler Producing

Well, here’s something I didn’t have on my 2024 TV bingo card: Disney+ is apparently reviving ‘Animorphs’ as a series, with none other than Ryan Coogler (yeah, the guy from ‘Black Panther’) coming in to produce. If you ever went to a Scholastic book fair, you definitely remember those covers – half-human, half-animal, fully weird. Whether or not you read the books, those morphing kids were everywhere.

So What’s ‘Animorphs’?

For anyone who missed the late-90s phenomenon: ‘Animorphs’ was a YA book series written by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant (together as K.A. Applegate). The premise? Five ordinary teens – Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias – get the power to transform into any animal they touch. Naturally, they use these powers to fight off a secret alien invasion happening right under everyone’s noses. It ran for more than 50(!) books between 1996 and 2001, and was basically everywhere if you were a certain age.

The official Disney+ logline is keeping things pretty broad: a bunch of teens stumble onto a hidden threat lurking in their normal lives, all while dealing with high school drama, relationships, and curfews. So, it’s definitely staying true to the original’s ‘saving the world and agonizing over math homework’ vibe.

Who’s Behind the Show?

Here’s how the creative team shapes up:

• Ryan Coogler producing (yeah, him again)
• Bayan Wolcott (‘The Testaments’) writing and executive producing
• Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler also executive producing for Proximity Media

And just for the record, this isn’t the first time ‘Animorphs’ has gotten the screen treatment: there was a Canadian TV adaptation that lasted for two seasons (1998–2000). If you somehow missed it, you’re not alone – even hardcore fans barely remember it. There was also talk of a feature film back in 2020, but, as you might guess, it fizzled before cameras rolled.

Coogler’s Got More on His Plate

If you think Coogler’s calendar isn’t already packed, you’d be wrong. He’s also tied to the new reboot of ‘The X-Files’, and that’s not just a name-drop – he’s actually writing and directing the pilot. The new take stars Danielle Deadwyler (‘The Piano Lesson’) and Himesh Patel (‘Yesterday’), as two wildly different FBI agents teamed up on cases involving the weird and unexplained.

Yes, original Scully herself – Gillian Anderson – has read the pilot script, and according to her, it’s:

'really good... I would say, have an open mind and give it a chance because it’s gonna be f*cking cool. It’s something different. It’s different, and it’s special, so give it a break.'

As for whether Anderson might show up herself? She’s hinted, but nothing’s official yet. (Hollywood loves a surprise cameo, so who knows.)

Anyway, between alien invaders and rebooted FBI agents, Coogler seems to be cornering the market on nostalgic sci-fi. We’ll see if Disney+ can finally give ‘Animorphs’ the adaptation fans always wanted – or at least, something cooler than those old morphing covers.