For the first time ever, the film rights to Redwall are all in one place. Netflix and Penguin Random House UK announced a deal today to adapted the Brian Jaques book series as animated films and series. Over The Garden Wall writer Patrick McHale is already at work on the first Redwall film. There will also be an event series based on Martin The Warrior.
If you’re not familiar with Redwall, and I’ll admit that I wasn’t, it tells the story of the heroic animals of Redwall Abbey. Martin The Warrior, for example, is a sword wielding mouse. His backstory is actually more tragic than you might think, but I’m not here to spoil it for anyone like I just did to myself. Of course, over 30 million readers already know that.
“Brian often travelled the globe to tell his Redwall stories to young audiences, more often than not at their schools,” says Alan Ingram, representative of The Redwall Abbey Company (owner of Jacques’ intellectual property), “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.”
There have been other adaptations and series, but finally having all of the stories in one place makes for great continuity. It gives Netflix the ability to connect all of their adaptations, should they choose to do so. Things are still in the very early stages, so keep checking back for updates.
Photo Credit: Netflix