Attendees at Annecy Festival were the first to see the debut episode of HBO Max’s return to the world of Gremlins through the animated series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, which debuts later this year. Sam Register, President of Warner Bros. Animation, introduced the pilot with an anecdote about the series’ origins. While meeting with Steven Spielberg to pitch an Animaniacs revival to Hulu, he shared his idea for an animated prequel for Gremlins and the rest is history.
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai is set in the 1920s and provides a backstory for Mogwai and the terrifying creatures they can turn into if you don’t follow the rules. In addition to Gizmo, the series follows 10-year-old Sam Wing (the shopkeeper who sells Gizmo to Billy’s uncle in the 1984 film) and his adventurous grandfather as they try to protect Gizmo from ending up in the wrong hands and return him to the place where Mogwai come from. The show is computer-animated but strives for a painterly look with brush strokes on each character’s cel-shading and hand-painted elements in the background.
Following the half-hour episode premiere, producers Tze Chun and Brendan Hay joined Joe Dante, the creator and director of Gremlins, to discuss the new series. We learned that it was already in production when Joe Dante found out about it and asked if he could join the team. His official credit is “Consulting Producer” and Dante joked that he acts as Gizmo’s agent. He attributes the longevity of the film’s success to its star Mogwai and admitted that in his original script, Gizmo turned into a gremlin within the first 20-minutes. It was Steven Spielberg who suggested that the most lovable Mogwai remain a cute companion for Billy throughout the film, without which there likely wouldn’t be an animated series to look forward to.
In the 10-episode first season, the first 2 episodes are set in Shanghai, with the remaining episodes set in a different region of China. As showrunner, Tze Chun shared his excitement with not only a series where all of the human characters are Asian unless otherwise noted, but also the opportunity to combine Chinese mythology with a franchise that was so special to him as a child. The Mogwai fit right alongside these classic legends while telling the story of where Gizmo and Mogwai come from. We all know that you don’t expose them to direct sunlight, don’t get them wet, and don’t feed them after midnight, but the creative team teased that a 4th rule will be revealed in the series.
Producer Brendan Hay vividly remembers his first time seeing Gremlins at the age of 6, having already read a picture book inspired by the film that made him think he was ready for it. The film terrorized him, but in a way that made him want to keep coming back for more. Regarding the tone of the series, the creators stated that this was still the goal, to make moments genuinely intense and funny, just like the film. The creators also promised that we will see Gizmo and Sam’s bond grow over the 10 episodes, with Gizmo already having reasons to distrust humans when he meets the friendly boy. Like many of the best Amblin Entertainment films, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai is a coming-of-age story (Amblin is a production company on the series alongside Warner Bros. Animation).
No release date was announced, but another fun reveal was that a second season of 10 episodes has already been ordered by HBO Max. In addition to streaming, the series will also have a broadcast debut on Cartoon Network. Click here for more of our coverage from Annecy Festival.