Have you ever wondered how Gizmo got in that shop in the first place? It all started with the Wing family. Now we’ll see the evens that led up to the 1984 classic, Gremlins, in a new animated series.
We have known about Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai for a little over a year now, but with very little details. Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Entertainment have finally given us a look at the first character images (seen above) and revealed the voices of the key cast members.
Here are the character descriptions:
- Fong Wing (voiced by Ming-Na Wen) – Fong Wing is Sam’s mother and a doctor of Chinese medicine. She’s resourceful, slyly funny, and fiercely protective of her family, even her frequently troublesome father. She’ll do anything to aid and protect her son.
- Grandpa (voiced by James Hong) – A free spirit and self-proclaimed expert in Chinese myth and magic, Grandpa is the elder of the Wing family. He claims to have traveled the world on grand adventures, but nobody really believed him… until now. He alone knows the true power (and secrets) of the Mogwai and the importance of protecting them.
- Hon Wing (voiced by BD Wong) – Hon Wing is Sam’s father and the family’s calm rock. He’s never believed his father-in-law’s tales of magic and adventure. But when he and Fong become separated from Sam, he realizes the world is stranger than he thought, and that he’ll need to become braver to reunite his family.
- Sam Wing (voiced by Izaac Wang) – Sam Wing is a naïve 10-year-old boy who will one day become Mr. Wing, the mysterious shopkeep and Gizmo’s guardian in the original Gremlins films. Young Sam lives with his family in the tiny apartment behind their struggling medicine shop. Sheltered and cautious, Sam will be thrown into the adventure of a lifetime when he promises his Grandpa he’ll get Gizmo home.
If you’re not sure what the show is going to be about, here’s what we know: “Steeped in China’s rich culture and mythology, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai takes viewers back to 1920s Shanghai where the Wing family first discovers the mysterious creature. Sam Wing, the youngest in the family, accepts the dangerous task to take Gizmo home and embarks on a journey through the Chinese countryside. Sam and Gizmo are joined by a teenage street thief named Elle, and together, they encounter—and sometimes battle—colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore. Along their quest, they are pursued by a power-hungry industrialist and his growing army of evil Gremlins.”
So, when will we see it? All we know is that it will be sometime later this year on HBO Max and during ACME Night on Cartoon Network. The series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Television. Executive Producers include Sam Register, President, Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, Presidents of Amblin Television and Brendan Hay. Tze Chun serves as showrunner and executive producer. The supervising producer is Dan Krall.
I’m sure that many more announcements are coming, including the first trailer. Keep checking back for updates.
Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Animation