Fox Has At Least A Dozen Projects On Its Adult Animation Development Slate

Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corporation is continuing to up its adult animation game with a robust development slate of upcoming series.

At least a dozen adult animated series have been announced by Fox as in development over the past year-and-a-half. Those that get eventual commissions are set to join Fox’s currently lineup of adult animated properties including The Simpsons, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers, The Great North, and Housebroken, as well as upcoming series Krapopolis from Dan Harmon and Grimsburg executive produced by Jon Hamm.

Fox-owned streamer Tubi is also producing original adult animation series The Freak Brothers, the platform’s first-ever show to get a second season renewal, and Breaking Bear, announced just last month.

Here’s everything we know about the dozen announced titles in Fox’s adult animation development pipeline:

• His Majesty’s Dragon – From Fox Entertainment and MGM’s Orion Television, the series is based on Naomi Novik’s 2006 fantasy novel of the same name. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars but in an alternate history in which dragons exist. According to Deadline, which first announced the project this week, the series has received a script commitment. Ben Queen (Cars 2), who worked at Pixar for several years, is writing and executive producing. Fox-owned Bento Box Entertainment will handle animation.
• Rats of NIMH – Announced last year, Rats of NIMH is another literary adaptation, this time from author Robert C. O’Brien. It’s similarly produced by Fox Entertainment and Orion Television.
• Clue – The popular board game is being adapted as an animated series in partnership with Hasbro’s eOne and Bento Box Entertainment, with the latter handling animation.
• Bloom County – News about a series adaptation of Berkeley Breathed’s popular comic strip broke earlier this year, and just this week long-time The Simpsons veteran Tim Long boarded to co-write. The series is being developed in partnership with Bento Box Entertainment, Miramax, Spyglass Media Group, and Project X Entertainment.
• The Flintstones Bedrock – In April 2021, Fox revealed it was bringing back tv’s favorite cavemen in a new Flintstones adaptation titled Bedrock. Set two decades after the original series, the show takes place at the birth of the Bronze Age. Speaking with Variety yesterday, Fox’s unscripted chief Rob Wade gave a positive update, explaining that they are currently casting voice actors for a presentation, which is being produced with Warner Bros. Animation.
• Dirt Girls – Fox Entertainment and Bento Box Entertainment are teaming on this animated comedy from Victoria Vincent (We the People, A Dog That Smokes Weed). The project came from Bento’s SkunkWorks program, aimed at finding, training, and developing promising artists and promoting new voices in animation. The show is set in the suburbs, where two unsupervised sisters get into all kinds of depraved situations.
• Shell Beach – Fox and Bento Box are working with executive producers Tyler, The Creator, Lionel Boyce, and Davon ‘Jasper’ Wilson on this story about a lifeguard named Wally and his partner Tyson. Boyce and Wilson, who co-created and wrote Loiter Squad for Adult Swim, are also writing Shell Beach.
• Prince Wawa –Back in February 2021, Fox gave a script commitment to this animated comedy from Tim Baltz and Lily Sullivan, executive produced by the pair along with John Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg. Baltz and Sullivan are co-writing the series about a merman prince displaced in Tampa, Florida. Counterbalance Entertainment is producing with Sony Pictures Television.
• Cocky – From The Knick creators Jack Amiel and Michael Begler, this rideshare comedy is produced by Fox Entertainment and Bento Box Entertainment. Amiel and Begler executive produce with Michael Sugar, who was an ep on The Knick.
• Demi-God – A hybrid animation-single-cam comedy, this project from Katie Greenway (Bella and the Bulldogs) is about a fast-food employee who escapes into the world of gaming to get away from real-life struggles. Conflict arises when a new patch to the game gives its NPCs sentience.
• Untitled Jermaine Fowler project – Superior Donuts star Jermaine Fowler is developing a series loosely based on his own childhood growing up in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Fowler is creator, writer, and executive producer.
• Ocean Village – Created by Daniel Cardenas Katz (Deep Space 69), the series unspools on a Florida island and turns on a multi-cultural family trying to get by in a would-be paradise. Katz is executive producing with Look Mom!’s Josh Bowen, Dan Lubetkin (Workaholics), and Nick Weidenfeld (The Boondocks). It’s produced by Fox Entertainment and, you guessed it, Bento Box.