My Little Pony: Forever Friendship returns to Twilight Sparkle’s crew in a new YouTube series

Hasbro announced My Little Pony: Forever Friendship at San Diego Comic-Con on July 24, a new animated series premiering exclusively on YouTube in early 2027. It brings back the Mane Six-era ponies five years after the franchise rebooted with a new cast.

The ponies are coming back, and so are the ponies you actually remember.

Hasbro announced My Little Pony: Forever Friendship at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, a new animated series landing exclusively on YouTube in early 2027.

The big deal for longtime fans is who’s in it. Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are back, the same characters who carried the show that turned My Little Pony into a phenomenon last decade.

Episodes run nine minutes and drop every two weeks. Hasbro is calling it a “feelings-first fantasy adventure” about friendship, magic and self-discovery.

My Little Pony has been around since 1984, and keeps rebooting

To get why this is a homecoming, you need the quick version of how My Little Pony works. It reboots. A lot.

The toys showed up in the early 1980s, and the first cartoon followed in 1984. Fans and Hasbro sort these eras into “generations,” G1 through G5, and each one basically starts over with new ponies, new looks, and a new world.

The one that broke out was Generation 4, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, which ran from 2010 to 2019. That’s the Twilight Sparkle era. It picked up a massive adult fanbase, the “Bronies,” on top of the kids it was made for, mostly because the writing and worldbuilding went deeper than a toy cartoon needed to.

Then in 2021, Hasbro rebooted again. Generation 5 moved past the Mane Six to a whole new cast led by a pony named Sunny Starscout, in a movie and the Make Your Mark series.

So bringing Twilight and friends back for Forever Friendship skips over the current generation to revive the one people loved most. That’s the move here.

Why My Little Pony is going to YouTube instead of TV or Netflix

A brand this big launching on YouTube instead of a streamer or a cable network raises an eyebrow. It shouldn’t.

For a kids’ brand in 2026, YouTube isn’t the backup plan. It’s where the kids already are. Little kids reach for the YouTube app the way their parents once reached for a TV remote, so Hasbro is putting the ponies where the audience lives instead of hoping the audience finds them on Disney+ or Netflix.

The format follows the platform. Nine-minute episodes suit the way kids actually watch, in short bites between other videos, and the every-two-weeks drop schedule keeps the channel active without needing a full 22-minute network order.

There’s a business logic too. Hasbro makes its real money on the toys, not on licensing fees from a network. YouTube gives it a direct pipe to kids and, more to the point, to the parents doing the buying, with no middleman deciding whether the show gets renewed. G5 already leaned on YouTube for shorts. This just commits to it fully.

What else we know about My Little Pony: Forever Friendship

Hasbro loaded the announcement with the usual launch pieces.

The voice cast is Jenna Weir as Twilight Sparkle, Ava Preston as Rainbow Dash, Kayla Samson as Fluttershy, and Kaya Kanashiro as Pinkie Pie. Gretchen Mallorie is showrunner and head writer, with Tayhan Mustafa directing.

The art comes partly from illustrator Nicholas Kole, whose past work includes the Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Disney’s Lorcana card game. There’s also a new theme song, “Forever Friendship,” out now from vocalist Cali Rodi, plus a podcast and more music promised down the line.

One thing the press release doesn’t say is why only four of the original six ponies are named. Applejack and Rarity rounded out the old Mane Six, and Hasbro’s announcement lists the other four without explaining the gap.

Maybe they’re saving it for a reveal. Maybe the roster really is four. Either way, the pony fandom noticed within about ten minutes, because the pony fandom notices everything.

Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.

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Hat Tips:

• Hasbro via Business Wire (July 24, 2026), the official announcement, the early 2027 YouTube premiere, the episode format, the Kim Boyd quote, and the creative and voice credits

• Variety (July 24, 2026), the Comic-Con reveal, the full cast and crew list, and the theme song details

• TheWrap (July 24, 2026), the Comic-Con timing and the Cali Rodi track

• Animation World Network (July 24, 2026), the series overview and format confirmation

• Equestria Daily (July 24, 2026), the Nicholas Kole art detail and the year-plus of prior silence on new pony projects

• My Little Pony Generations Wiki and G5 MLP Wiki (retrieved July 24, 2026), the franchise generation history, the 2010-2019 run of Friendship Is Magic, and the 2021 G5 reboot