Netflix Developing A “Scott Pilgrim” Animated Series

Scott Pilgrim is one of the most unique IPs to gain popularity in the last twenty years, with both the graphic novel series and the film adaptation gaining a cult status among fans. Now, Netflix and UCP (The Umbrella Academy) are teaming to develop a new animated series based on the franchise.

Scott Pilgrim is an action, fantasy, romantic comedy that follows the titular character through a whirlwind story wherein he’ll have to fight and defeat the seven evil ex’s of his new paramour, Ramona Flowers. Along the way, he’ll have to balance his responsibilities to his garage band named Sex Bob-Omb while trying to survive the increasingly violent encounters. There is also his kind-of ex-girlfriend, Knives Chau, who’s spurned when Pilgrim takes up with Flowers, and wants revenge of her own.

Edgar Wright was the first one to take a stab at adapting the property, directing a live-action take that starred Michael Cera as the lead. The film gained a lot of positive critical responses, and fans aggreed that the movie matched the tone of the series. The big issue was that so much story had to be cut from the 6-book series to fit a traditional run time and many felt that it was just too much for one film.

Cera was joined Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who played opposite him as Ramona, as well as burgeoning stars like Chris Evans, Kieran Culkin (Succession), Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, and Brandon Routh (Superman Returns, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow). There was also a well-received video game tie-in, which recently got a remaster that included all the DLC content, from Ubisoft that also garnered a lot of audience and critical notice.

Bryan Lee O’Malley, the author of the Scott Pilgrim series, is set to write and executive produce the project, as well as acting as showrunner, alongside BenDavid Grabinski (Are You Afraid of the Dark?), Anime house Science SARU (Devilman Crybaby) is set to provide the animation work while Abel Gongora will serve as director. This is still very much in the developmental phase, and, as such, Netflix hasn’t provided any info on when this series could land on the streaming service.