Posted in: Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: mcfarland, preview, sam & twitch, spawn, thumbs, todd mcfarlane, wiip

Todd McFarlane Opens TV Prod/Dev Arm- "McFarland" & "Thumbs" Announced

Published Tue, 02 Nov 2021 18:27:12 -0500

"Spawn" universe creator Todd McFarlane is expanding his multimedia reach with a deep dive into television, with Deadline Hollywood offering exclusive details on a development & production arm being launched as part of McFarlane Films to focus on series projects- development & production arm that already has a first-look television deal with wiip (Mare of Easttown). Overseen by McFarlane and the company's President of Television, Sean Canino, the initial show offerings include two projects: McFarland and Thumbs. The two projects join the previously-announced live-action Sam & Twitch series, inspired by the characters from McFarlane's "Spawn universe," with Jason Smilovic & Todd Katzberg penning the adaptation for McFarlane Films and wiip. When asked about the status of Sam & Twitch, McFarlane confirmed that the scripts were out to directors "right now." Here's a look at what we know so far:

"McFarland": A stop-motion, animated event series created by Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!) in partnership with ShadowMachine and wiip. Described as "'Night at the Museum' meets 'Toy Story' in 'Twin Peaks'," the series will feature original McFarlane Toys. McFarlane, Lennon & Canino will executive produce, along ShadowMachine.

"Thumbs": Based on the bestselling graphic novel written by Sean Lewis (Coyotes) and art by Hayden Sherman, the live-action drama is produced by McFarlane Films, wiip & Epicenter (Judas and the Black Messiah). Adapted by Anders Weidemann (HBO's Beartown, Paramount+'s Interrogation), the series focuses on "17-year-old Charlie 'Thumbs' James, gamer and social outsider, who enters an esports tournament hoping to win a scholarship from tech billionaire Adrien Camus' gamer academy so he can get his ticket out of his neighborhood, but soon finds himself fighting real life-and-death battles in a covert war between Camus' teenage army and a neo-fascist anti-tech movement that is about to take over the U.S." Weidemann, McFarlane & Canino will executive produce, along with Allard Cantor & Jarrod Murray through Epicenter, with Lewis as a producer.

"Tom Lennon's project was sort of a bit of a fluke that he had the idea already, and it was based around toys, and then this is where your reputation precedes you. He knew I was doing some stuff in Hollywood, and he's going, the dude makes toys. He collected a bunch of them, and he was like, hey, Todd, I got this crazy idea for this show, and it involves toys, oh, and by the way, you understand that component because you live that life, so, here's sort of this, Toy Story meets Night at the Museum in the world of Twin Peaks. Cool, right? It just was like a bizarre enough sentence that I went, what? And then he started talking it out, and we started throwing ideas back and forth, and designs, and we're ready. We've got I think like a 1-minute, 2-minute pitch trailer that to some extent I don't even know if we need to say anything," McFarlane explained about McFarland. "You just need to watch this 2-minute trailer, and either you're going to get it, or you're not. You think that's sort of funny and interesting and provocative? Or you think it's dumb, and you can pass on it? Those are both valid answers. And ShadowMachine, one of the animation houses out there; they are having success with BoJack Horseman, and they're doing their interesting, 3D Pinocchio with Guillermo del Toro stuff. This is going to be stop-motion, an odd, quirky thing. So, that was it."

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!