From 1967 to 1971, ABC broadcast the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, which was set in the fictional town of Collinsport, Maine and followed the town’s founding family, the Collins family, through a story that featured vampires, ghosts, werewolves, zombies, man-made monsters, witches, warlocks, time travel, and parallel universes. The show is best remembered for its popular vampire character Barnabas Collins, played by Jonathan Frid.
The original iteration of Dark Shadows lasted for six seasons, a total of a whopping 1,225 episodes. Two movies, House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows, multiple novels, a comic strip, an audio drama, and a short-lived ’90s revival (with Ben Cross as Barnabas Collins) expanded the franchise, and we got another movie, directed by Tim Burton (with Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, of course) in 2012. The WB produced an unaired pilot for a revival in 2004, and The CW considered resurrecting the show around six years ago, but that didn’t pan out.
Now, The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Warner Bros. Animation is reimagining Dark Shadows as an adult animated series!
What do we know about the Dark Shadows animated series?
We don’t know a lot yet, but Warner Bros. Animation has said that this reboot series will “continue the saga of the Collins family.”
Here’s the offiicial log line: Blending gothic, horror, and supernatural genres, this coming adaptation promises all the dark twists and romantic intrigue that defined the transformational series across its 1200-plus episode run.
Lisa Holdsworth, the creator of Channel 4 series Dreamers and a writer on Sky’s Discovery of Witches and the BBC’s Call the Midwife, will executive produce the Dark Shadows animated series and serve as the showrunner. Other executive producers on the project include Cathy Curtis, Tracy Curtis, Eric Homan, Kevin Kolde, and Fred Seibert.
Development is currently underway, and Warner Bros. Animation didn’t reveal when they expect to deliver the finished product.
Are you a fan of Dark Shadows, and are you interested in seeing what this adult animated series from Warner Bros. Animation is going to be like? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
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