A Gremlins prequel has been within the works for HBO Max since earlier than the streamer was even referred to as HBO Max—and now we’ve lastly acquired eyes on it! The solid and crew of the Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai animated collection took to the stage at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 to share extra.

The assembled group representing the Amblin Television-Warner Bros. Animation manufacturing included government producers Tze Chun and Brendan Hay and artwork director Tara Rueping, plus solid members Izaac Wang (the voice of most important character Sam, who admitted he knew nothing in regards to the Gremlins films earlier than he landed the position), A. J. LoCascio (Gizmo—he did a Gizmo demonstration and it was good), and Gabrielle Neveah Green (Elle, a younger thief who befriends Sam and Gizmo). Plus, the panel featured an extra shock: authentic Gremlins film star Zach Galligan, who’ll be enjoying “a cool character” he couldn’t say an excessive amount of about.

The remainder of Secrets of the Mogwai’s stacked solid was not at SDCC, but it surely contains the beforehand introduced Ming-Na Wen (The Book of Boba Fett, Mulan), B.D. Wong (the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World films), the legendary James Hong (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Big Trouble in Little China), and Matthew Rhys (The Americans), who performs the Gizmo-chasing villain. The panel introduced 4 extra solid members as effectively: Sandra Oh, Randall Park, Bowen Yang, and one other legend within the type of the nice George Takei.

Way again in February 2021, when the voice casting bulletins had been made, Variety dropped an official synopsis for Secrets of the Mogwai, which is about in Twenties Shanghai:

“The 10-episode animated television adaptation reveals the story of how naïve 10-year-old Sam Wing (the future mysterious Chinatown shopkeep Mr. Wing in the original live-action flick), met the young Mogwai called Gizmo. Along with a teenage street thief named Elle, Sam and Gizmo take a perilous journey through the Chinese countryside, encountering, and sometimes battling, colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore. On their quest to return Gizmo to his family and uncover a legendary treasure, they are pursued by a power-hungry industrialist and his growing army of evil Gremlins.”

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Speaking to the Comic-Con crowd, Chun and Hay defined that the collection goals to “recreate ‘80s Amblin,” which they summed up as “a kid’s story with adult stakes, life or death stakes,” and defined that it’ll draw upon monsters from Chinese mythology in each episode. As a enjoyable shock, the primary episode of Secrets of the Mogwai was screened; it exhibits us how Sam and Gizmo first meet. But first, it explains why Gizmo leaves his dwelling (a Smurf Village-like paradise) for Shanghai: whereas making an attempt to guard his fellow Mogwai from a vicious hen, he by accident hitches a experience very, very distant, then will get scooped up by a “circus of the uncanny,” the place he immediately turns into the star performer.

While Sam and his mischievous Grandpa (Hong) are out looking for provides for the natural medication apply run by Sam’s mother and father (Wen and Wong), they take a detour to see the circus. Naturally, they’re intrigued by the “singing cat dog” (who wouldn’t be?), which Grandpa—a former treasure hunter who’s a giant fan of magic and journey—acknowledges as a doubtlessly harmful creature. After a little bit of a kerfluffle, they handle to pluck Gizmo from the clutches of Elle, who’s making an attempt to grab him for her boss (Rhys), who we are able to inform desires to make use of the Mogwai for some very darkish ends. Grandpa insists that he and Sam should carry Gizmo again to his legendary dwelling, in any other case “very bad things” will occur (we have now an concept of what that may appear to be, since we’ve seen the Gremlins films!). And although the episode ends there, the journey’s simply starting.

The animation is lush and colourful, using the Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic Gremlins theme within the opening credit is spot-on, and the way in which Secrets of the Mogwai leans into Chinese mythology—one thing that solely vaguely entered into the 1984 movie—looks like the right technique to carry new cultural context to the story. The present will stream on HBO Max and Cartoon Network in 2023.

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