Animorphs Series in Early Development at Disney+ With Ryan Coogler As A Producer–I’m Intrigued.

A television adaptation of the popular “Animorphs” book series is in early development at Disney+. I’m not sure if this is a brilliant idea or a train wreck waiting to happen.

The project is being developed by 20th Television, with Bayan Wolcott attached as writer and executive producer. Wolcott’s previous worked on “The Testaments”, “Class of ’09,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty”, and “Impeachment: American Crime Story.”

Ryan Coogler and Proximity Media Attached

The series is being produced by Proximity Media, co-founded by Ryan Coogler, who is attached as an executive producer along with Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian. The trio are working under an overall television deal with Disney.

Additional executive producers include Iole Lucchese and Caitlin Friedman on behalf of Scholastic, the original book publisher. Proximity Media’s Simone Harris, vice president and head of television, and Dezi Gallegos, director of development, are overseeing the project.

Based on a Bestselling Book Series

Many of you likely grew up reading “Animorphs,” which launched in 1996 with the release of “The Invasion”, the first in a series of novels written by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant. The books follow a group of teenagers who discover that Earth is being infiltrated by a parasitic alien species known as the Yeerks.

After encountering a dying alien from the Andalite race, the group is given the ability to morph into animals by absorbing DNA.  Yes. They use animal DNA to fight the bad guys, and they form a secret resistance to stop the invasion while balancing the challenges of everyday life.

The series somehow went on to hit 54 main books and over $34 million worldwide. It also led to spin-off series like “The Andalite Chronicles” and “The Hork-Bajir Chronicles”.

What Will the Disney+ Stories Be About?

According to the official synopsis, the Disney+ adaptation will follow “a group of teenagers who uncover a hidden threat lurking beneath their everyday lives, all while juggling relationships, curfews, and the chaos of high school.”

But Why?

This seems like the latest move by the Walt Disney Company in its quest to find its own “Harry Potter” fantasy series.  Disney has already tried with “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” (twice), R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps”, and soon they will be adapting the “Eragon” series into live-action as well.

I don’t think “Animorphs” will end up like “Harry Potter,” but only time will tell.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!