Do not wet them. Do not feed them after midnight. And above all, never doubt your ability to attract a bunch of real Hollywood stars to make voices for a draw based on an old pair of creature movies 80s.
HBO Max announced the voice cast joining your 1984 animated prequel Gremlins film, which will be set in China in the 1920s. Ming-Na Wen (SHIELD agents, The Mandalorian) and BD. Wong (Jurassic World, Mr. Robot) will give voice to Sam Wing’s 10-year-old mother and father (Izaac Wang), who ends up being the old store owner who has Gizmo at the beginning (and at the end) of Gremlins.
Meanwhile, Matthew Rhys – of The americans and Perry Mason fame, among others – will give voice to the main antagonist of the cartoon. From Variety:
Rhys gives voice to enemy Riley Greene, a power-hungry English industrialist and treasure hunter who uses black magic and is determined to stop at nothing in his search for Gizmo and the mythical Mogwai treasure.
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Rhys, Wen and Wong have done their dubbing quota before, so that shouldn’t be too surprising. On the other hand, if you take Christopher Lee out of Gremlins 2: the new batch (or relegate it back to its level of fame in 1990 when the film was released), so these three actors have more influence than all the other actors in the first two films combined. For an animated series. For prequela animated series. For a franchise that failed with its first sequel.
Honestly? This drawing looks much more interesting than Gremlins it always has been (and I say that as somehow who liked the film). Here it is the synopsis of the show of the past in the happy days of 2019:
Set in Shanghai in the 1920s, the series will tell the story of how 10-year-old Sam Wing (future store owner, Mr. Wing in the 1984 film), met the young Mogwai named Gizmo. Together with a teenage street thief named Elle, Sam and Gizmo take a dangerous journey through the countryside of China, encountering, and sometimes fighting, colorful monsters and spirits of Chinese folklore. In their quest to return Gizmo to his family and discover a legendary treasure, they are pursued by a power-hungry industrialist and his growing army of evil Gremlins.
That sounds great, but the Gremlins are easily the least interesting part of this presentation. More importantly, having to somehow link to a 37-year-old film that no one under the age of 35 cares about can potentially limit the series’ narrative. Of course, Netflix did a fantastic job with its Dark Crystal prequel series, which greatly improved and enriched the original film. Maybe HBO Max and Secrets of Mogwai will do the same for Gremlins. With a cast like this, that also includes the legendary James Hong (Big problem in small China) as Sam’s grandfather, along with Gabrielle Green as Ellie and AJ LoCascio (Voltron: Legendary Defender) like Gizmo–it is certainly possible!
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