Fox Is Developing ‘Bedrock,’ A Primetime Adult ‘Flintstones’ Reboot With Elizabeth Banks
The Flintstones are heading back to primetime. Fox Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) have announced Bedrock, an adult spin-off of the classic animated sitcom, which they are developing with actor and filmmaker Elizabeth Banks.
The series is set two decades after the original, as Fred Flintstone prepares to retire and the Stone Age gives way to a shiny and enlightened new Bronze Age. The pilot script will be written by Lindsay Kerns (Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, DC Super Hero Girls, Trolls: The Beat Goes On!).
As well as producing, Banks will voice Pebbles Flintstone, an infant in the original series and now a twenty-something woman embarking on a career. Banks is known for her roles in the Hunger Games and Pitch Perfect movies, and for directing films including Pitch Perfect 2 and the 2019 feature Charlie’s Angels. She voiced Wyldstyle in WBA’s The Lego Movie and its sequel.
Michael Thorn, Fox’s president of entertainment, said in a statement:
Long before the Simpsons and Springfield, the Griffins and Quahog, or even when the Belchers started serving burgers on Ocean Avenue, there were the Flintstones and Bedrock. Their imprint on the animation universe is undeniable and the idea of adapting it for today’s audience is a challenge we here at Fox are very much looking forward to taking on with Warner Bros., Elizabeth, and Lindsay. No pressure whatsoever, really.
Peter Girardi, WBA’s evp for alternative programming, added:
The Flintstones are the first family of primetime animation. Elizabeth and Lindsay have a brilliant take on these characters, and Fox and Brownstone are the perfect partners to bring them back to primetime. This is going to rock (sorry).
Fox’s free ad-supported streaming platform Tubi has also acquired the AVOD rights to the six seasons of the original Flintstones series, which will begin streaming on May 1. The show, which was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, was broadcast on ABC from 1960 to 1966, becoming the first animated series to air in primetime tv.
If picked up to series, Bedrock will be co-produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Fox Entertainment. Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman will executive-produce through Brownstone Productions. Brownstone’s Dannah Shinder and writer Lindsay Kerns will serve as co-executive producers.
Various creators have tried to reboot The Flintstones over the last decade. Most famously, a Seth MacFarlane reboot was announced back in 2011, but there have also been numerous other versions developed at Warner Bros. Animation, none of which have been publicly revealed. The fact that this reboot with Fox and Banks has been announced suggests that it is much further along in development than earlier attempts and has a good chance of crossing the finish line.
