Netflix just can’t get enough animation and extensive fantasy. The streaming service has announced that it will adapt the popular Redwall Brian Jacques books, a The Game of Thrones-Series that follows the heroic adventures of mice, moles and rabbits that live in Redwall Abbey. Notably for animation fans, Netflix also hired Patrick McHale, the creator of the Cartoon Network theme Through the garden wall, to develop a film based on the first Redwall book. In addition, a TV series will follow Martin the Warrior, a mouse whose legendary adventures will later inspire the citizens of Redwall.
More than The magician series, the Redwall the novels give Netflix a breeding ground for creating fantasy films and TV shows more suitable for the family in the future. The real question is how these adaptations will be. Through the garden wall it was a milestone for modern 2D animation, but we’re also seeing a lot of Netflix CG series, like Ghost in the Shell from last year. Perhaps Netflix can experiment with different animation styles for each entry in the series. But after seeing how well Avatar: The Last Air Master and The legend of Korra already acted, both of which were reference 2D animated series, I hope Netflix will see the value of traditional animation.
“Brian used to travel the world to tell his Redwall stories to young audiences, more often than not in their schools,” said Alan Ingram, representative of The Redwall Abbey Company, in a statement. “Brian would have been delighted to see that Netflix shares his joy and desire to bring his stories to life as a new universe of films, series and potentially much more for audiences of all ages.”