Ryan Reynolds has become increasingly useful to Disney outside the Deadpool suit. His Maximum Effort banner has a first-look deal with 20th Television, and Disney+ is also home to Underdogs, the SailGP docuseries tied to the racing team he co-owns with Hugh Jackman.
This is hardly the end of his collaborations with the streamer, as an all-new partnership is on the horizon. While Reynolds himself is no stranger to starring in thrilling movies, the new project will be a bit of a different tone from what we normally see the actor invest in.
In a new report from Deadline, Disney+ is developing Spy School, a series based on Stuart Gibbs’ long-running middle-grade books, with Reynolds executive producing through Maximum Effort. The move gives Disney+ a family-friendly franchise candidate that does not need to begin with Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, or as a remake of an older Disney title.
Gibbs’s book, which first came out in 2012, follows a kid (Ben Ripley) who is already thinking about joining the CIA. He believes he has been accepted into a science-focused magnet school, then discovers the place is actually a training academy for young spies. Arguably, it is the kind of hook that has always worked for younger readers because it turns school into a secret doorway.
For the adaptation, Chris Fedak is writing and executive producing as well, with Fedak already helping develop Chuck, another spy story about an unlikely recruit pulled into a world of covert missions. Fedak has also worked across network genre television with Legends of Tomorrow, Prodigal Son, and Deception, so he brings quite an experience with serialized stories. Gibbs will executive produce too, which should help reassure readers who have lived with these books for years. Gibbs has the next installment, Spy School Goes East, scheduled for Oct. 6, which gives Disney a useful bit of publishing momentum around the same period the show is moving through development.
Emma Watts adds another major franchise experience as an executive producer. She previously worked with Reynolds on Deadpool and had a hand in shepherding studio properties including X-Men, Kingsman, Planet of the Apes, Maze Runner, and Avatar. All of this sounds promising, but Disney+ is still walking into familiar territory with Spy School.
The service has had mixed results turning familiar adventure or youth-skewing brands into durable series. National Treasure: Edge of History was canceled after one season, despite coming from a recognizable film franchise. Similarly, Willow was not only canceled but later removed from Disney+.
Goosebumps had one of the most famous children’s horror brands behind it, but Disney+ and Hulu still canceled the series after two seasons. The Mysterious Benedict Society, another adaptation of a popular children’s book series, also lasted only two seasons. Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been a clear counterexample, earning a second season and then a third-season renewal before Season 2 even premiered.
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