Warner Bros. Animation, hugely active this year at Annecy, unveiled Friday at Annecy a new “Dark Shadows” animated series, confirming the studio’s push in adult animation into other genres beyond adult comedy.
Reimagining the 1960s cult TV series, the show is in very early development stages, with Lisa Holdsworth, creator of Channel 4’s “Dreamers” and a writer on Sky’s “Discovery of Witches” and BBC’s “Call the Midwife,” set as executive producer and showrunner. Cathy Curtis, Tracy Curtis, Eric Homan, Kevin Kolde and Fred Seibert serve as executive producers.
The announcement was made Friday at a WBA adult animation showcase at Annecy’s Mifa Market hosted by Shaleen Desai, senior VP, creative affairs, and Peter Girardi, executive VP, alternative programming at Warner Bros. Animation.
Bowing 1967, the supernatural family saga gained a huge teen following after the introduction of family member Barnabas Collins, a vampire played by Jonathan Frid, becoming ABC’s highest-rating daytime series and spawning multiple spin-offs including a Tom Burton’s 2012 movie starring Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer.
The new version is in development. It still remains to be seen what way Warner Bros. Animation will take the new series. WBA used the adult animation session to add more granularity to some of its – and indeed Annecy’s – biggest announcements made this week at the French animation festival.
These took in a series development greenlight on “Absolute Batman,” adapting the popular comic book, and a series greenlight on DC’s first anime series “Joker: Laugh Riot” – plus series development on “Krypto,” enrolling some of DC’s biggest super heroes and super villains across, as WPA noted, a wide range of styles, tones and stories for audiences of every age.
Announced Wednesday at Annecy, these major plays for Warner Bros. Animation and DC, followed on the world premiere of “Batman: Knightfall,” the first instalement of a planned animated feature trilogy.
One of the biggest comic book events of the 1990s, starring Anson Mount and Michael Mando and unveiling a Robin we’ve barely seen in film before, it played to thunderous applause at Annecy on Tuesday Variety noted.
At its Friday adult animation showcase, Warner Bros. Animation and Hanna-Barbera studios also revealed first images of the Gerry Anderson-inspired puppet TV series “Hit Squad,” with extensive footage shown to an enthusiastic crowd.
“We’re truly happy to bring this brand new series, written by Gerry Anderson in the late 1970s, to the screen,” said Giraldi. ”With upgrades on the puppetry, and a blend of CG and practical effects, ‘Hit Squad’ blends action with dark humor, brought forth by both Hanna-Barbera Europe and Warner Bros. Animation teams.”
Circling back to their new Adult Swim family show “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” the WBA duo described the upcoming series as part of “an emphasis on original stories, with character-based comedy bringing the ‘family comedy show’ genre to our long-time partners and friends at Adult Swim.”
One of the fastest growing divisions at Warner Bros. Animation with titles such as “Harley Quinn,” ”Kiteman” and more, adult animation teams has been pushing the boundaries of both WBA and DC Studios legacy IPs while opening up to new animated narratives. “We don’t have a house style,” added Girardi. “Instead, we let the show dictate that.”
To prove the point, the duo shared previously revealed early development images of the upcoming “Absolute Batman” series, which got the Bonlieu on its feet during Wednesday’s DC Studios showcase.
An even truer testament to this approach is definitely “Get Jiro,” a project seven years in the making which has been one of Annecy’s most-awaited projects for a long time. Following up on its 2025 work-in-progress session, the duo treated attendees on Friday at the Volière, Mifa’s biggest venue, with a screening of the series’ first episode, unveiling the post-apocalyptic setting of this cuisine-revenge driven half-hour show.
Animation fans were in for a very tasty treat, as the episode introduced villains and set the tone for the brutal show adapted from the best-selling Vertigo series by the late Anthony Bourdain, co-created with Joel Rose.
John Hopewell contributed to this article.
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