Ryan Coogler to Give Beloved “Animorphs” Book Series TV Treatment at Disney+
Ryan Coogler to Give Beloved “Animorphs” Book Series TV Treatment at Disney+
Brenton BlanchetFri, April 3, 2026 at 8:01 PM UTC
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Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty; Scholastic, Inc. -
Animorphs, the popular book series from Scholastic, is getting the TV treatment 30 years later
Ryan Coogler will executive produce the show, which is set for Disney+
The shape-shifting series from 20th Television will follow "a group of teenagers who uncover a hidden threat lurking beneath their everyday lives, all while juggling relationships, curfews, and the chaos of high school," per a logline
Ryan Coogler has a rather transformative new project ahead.
The Sinners director and Academy Award winner, 39, will executive produce a forthcoming series from Disney+ based on Animorphs, the popular children's fantasy book series that launched in the '90s.
The shape-shifting series from 20th Television will follow "a group of teenagers who uncover a hidden threat lurking beneath their everyday lives, all while juggling relationships, curfews, and the chaos of high school," per a logline from the streamer.
Variety was the first to report.
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Ryan Coogler pictured in March 2026Credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty
Proximity Media's Coogler, Sev Ohanian and Zinzi Coogler will executive produce the series, alongside Iole Lucchese and Caitlin Friedman for Schoolastic, per both outlets. Bayan Wolcott (The Testaments, The Summer I Turned Pretty) will write and executive produce, while Proximity Media’s Simone Harris and Dezi Gallegos will oversee the series.
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The books, written by K. A. Applegate and her husband, Michael Grant, launched in 1996 with The Invasion and concluded after a total of 54 titles with 2001's The Beginning. Animorphs titles have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide. Animorphs follows teens Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel and Tobias as they discover that earth is being taken over by a parasitic alien species called the Yeerks. Eventually, the teens gain the ability to morph into any animal they touch (thanks to a dying Andalite) and use it to fight back.
A book cover for Animorphs The Alien by KA Applegate (pictured)
This isn't the first time Animorphs has hit the small screen. A series from Protocol Entertainment, also based on the books, aired on Nickelodeon from 1998 to 2000. It ran for 26 episodes across two seasons. The books also spawned a 2000 video game for the Game Boy Color.
Reflecting on 20 years of the series in a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Applegate described her books as "scary and creepy and mind-bending," beyond just being "plain fun" (the turning-into-animals part).
"But what we think cemented fan loyalty was that we were clearly not talking down to them or taking it easy on them," she said of readers. "We used the premise to talk about big things with kids and we think they appreciated that. And then we’d have a fight between an alien and a kid-turned-tiger, and seriously, how is that not cool?"
Applegate added that she still hears from fans of the books, with one example being "in the form of long, emotional letters in which Animorphs is credited for a decision to go into human rights law."
"Our default is never to take ourselves seriously, so it was cool and strange and humbling to learn that kids were actually paying attention," she said.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
