Earthworm Jim To Return In A New TV Show

Earthworm Jim is one of the most beloved classic Nintendo franchises, becoming a staple for many 90’s gamers. The often-psychedelic visuals and insane story of robot/astronaut earthworm lost in space combined with a unique combat system caught the attention of audiences in a way that few other games at the time were able to, and now there appears to be a new series based on the franchise in the works.

The first two games, released in 1994 and 1995, respectively, were well-received by gamers and critics alike and led directly to a short-lived animated cartoon on the WB in 1996. However, a third game, which did away with the side-scrolling adventure, was far more middling and is led to the franchise sitting on ice for the better part of the last several decades, outside of the customary re-releases.

Now, Interplay, who has controlled the rights to Earthworm Jim since the year 2000, has partnered with APA for a new small screen attempt at the property. The original story saw Jim, a worm in a futuristic robotic suit fighting bad guys across the galaxy where each planet was the home of a different set of anthropomorphic animals bent on his destruction, though all he wanted was to return to Earth, the home he’d long been lost from.

Interplay has set up a website, BeyondTheGroovy.com, which will supposedly be the hub for the property going forward. There is no info on when this project could get off the ground or where it might air, as things are still very much in the development phase.

The earliest an Earthworm Jim series could debut would likely be 2023, but it’s likely this show is several years off from reality. Either way, Interplay has released a brief interview with the lead earthworm himself, hyping the news, which can be seen below: