Netflix has snapped up the rights to Brian Jacques’ entire series of Redwall books and is plotting an animated feature film and TV series based on the animal adventure franchise.
Netflix inked a deal with Penguin Random House Children for the rights to the books, which have sold 30 million copies worldwide and chronicle the adventures of the heroic animals that inhabit the forest haven of Redwall Abbey.
It is the first time that the film rights to the entire series of books have been held by one company and Netflix has already set to work adapting the stories, signing up Patrick McHale to write a feature. McHale created Cartoon Network’s Over the Garden Wall and is working on Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.
Netflix is also plotting a TV series based on the character of Martin the Warrior, a wise and ferocious mouse who co-founded Redwall Abbey along with Abbess Germaine.
“Brian often travelled the globe to tell his Redwall stories to young audiences, more often than not at their schools,” said Alan Ingram, representative of The Redwall Abbey Company, which owns Jacques’ intellectual property after he died in 2011.
“Brian would have been very happy to see that Netflix shares his joy and desire to bring his stories to life as a new universe of films, series and potentially much more for audiences of all ages to enjoy.”
The Redwall books have previously been adapted into an animated TV series by Canada’s Teletoon. The show broadcast on PBS in America.