One of young adult fiction’s most beloved properties is making its way back to screens. An “Animorphs” television series is in early development at Disney+, with Oscar-winning filmmaker Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media on board to produce, according to an exclusive report from Variety.
Bayan Wolcott is attached to write and executive produce the adaptation. Ryan Coogler, his wife and producing partner Zinzi Coogler, and longtime collaborator Sev Ohanian will executive produce on behalf of Proximity Media. Iole Lucchese and Caitlin Friedman will also executive produce through Scholastic, the publishing house behind the source material. 20th Television is the studio attached to the project. Proximity Media’s Simone Harris, vice president and head of television, and Dezi Gallegos, director of development of television, will oversee the project on the company’s side.
The “Animorphs” book series, written by K.A. Applegate, ran from 1996 to 2001 and comprised 54 main titles, beginning with “The Invasion” and concluding with “The Beginning.” Each installment was narrated in the first person from the point of view of one of the series’ main characters, a group of teenagers granted the ability to morph into any animal they touch and tasked with fighting a secret alien invasion of Earth. Companion novels, including “The Hork-Bajir Chronicles,” “The Andalite Chronicles,” and “Visser,” expanded the world further. The series has sold more than 35 million copies worldwide, cementing its place as a cornerstone of 1990s and early 2000s youth culture.
Wolcott brings a substantial television pedigree to the project. He most recently served as supervising producer on Hulu’s “The Testaments” and has writing credits on the FX series “Class of ’09.” Earlier credits include work on “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and “Impeachment: American Crime Story.”
For Coogler, the “Animorphs” series is one of several major television projects being developed under Proximity Media’s ongoing overall deal with Disney. He is also actively developing a pilot for a reboot of “The X-Files,” set to star Danielle Deadwyler and Himesh Patel. Proximity Media was founded in 2021 by Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian, with a stated mission of creating event-driven content rooted in often-overlooked stories and subject matters. The company has co-produced a growing number of Disney+ titles, including the Marvel series “Ironheart” and “Eyes of Wakanda.” Coogler arrives at the project riding an extraordinary wave of momentum following “Sinners,” his 2025 supernatural horror film starring Michael B. Jordan. The film grossed over $365 million globally, earned four Academy Awards overall, and brought Coogler the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
This would not be the first time “Animorphs” has been adapted for television. A live-action series aired on Nickelodeon for two seasons between 1998 and 2000, starring Shawn Ashmore, Brooke Nevin, Boris Cabrera, Nadia Nascimento, Christopher Ralph, Paulo Costanzo, and Eugene Lipinski. A feature film adaptation was explored in 2020 but never progressed beyond early development.
Should the Disney+ series move forward, it would join a growing slate of young adult book adaptations at the streamer. Disney+ currently airs “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” which is heading into its third season, and is preparing a live-action version of “Eragon.” The addition of “Animorphs” would signal a continued push by the platform to mine beloved YA properties for prestige streaming content.
No premiere date or casting announcements have been made, as the project remains at an early stage of development.
