George Orwell’s Animal Farm is one of those classic stories that gets passed down to every generation to remind them about the inherent dangers of corruption and manipulation from government leaders. And, back in 2012, it was revealed that Andy Serkis would be helming his own version of the novella. Nearly 15 years later, his adaptation has been realized, and there are quite a few differences between it and its source material. He told us why one of those changes was vital.
This Animal Farm movie, which is now playing in theaters alongside other projects on the 2026 movie schedule, was made closely with George Orwell’s estate. During CinemaBlend’s conversation with Serkis, he told us why he felt one change was important to his film adaptation. In his words:
The significant change was the introduction of the young piglet Lucky who actually, if you look later on in the book, there's once a rebellion long gone in history and forgotten – there's another generation of young piglets who start life on an elite level. I sort of thought, well, if you brought one of those characters and brought 'em forward into the story at the time post-rebellion, when the utopia was being created and put them in the central position of having the moral compass through their eyes being pulled in different directions. That was the biggest change.
Since this version of Animal Farm was done as an animated film that is geared toward children, it certainly makes sense that there would be a young character for its core audience to identify with. While it may seem like a hard left turn from the novella, Serkis pointed to a segment of George Orwell’s classic that inspired the addition of Lucky. As he continued:
And, once we found that, it actually opened up the story to, as I say, making it accessible to a younger audience – seeing it through a younger piglet's eyes. I think the greatest change also is the medium, making it animation, which gives it such warmth. We associate animation with being childlike, don't we? If you were faced with a live-action version of it, you’d judge it in a completely different way. Animation really frees you up to look at allegorical storytelling in a different way.
When Andy Serkis first conceptualized making an Animal Farm movie, he had envisioned it as a motion capture movie with animals on a live-action set. He explained that it was going to be “a lot darker” than it ended up being. You can check out the Animal Farm trailer below:
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Along with Lucky being central to this version of Animal Farm, there is a more modern element to the storyline, and a new third act is added that isn’t even in the original book. In our interview, Serkis said that one reason why he decided to make the “huge directional change” from the motion capture idea was because they didn’t know how to “finish the story” as it was. Making it a family-friendly animated movie allowed them to find a better way in.
Animal Farm is just one of many book-to-screen adaptations to come out this year. There’s also a Lord of the Flies miniseries coming to Netflix this week and Christopher Nolan’s version of Homer’s The Odyssey coming out this summer. Andy Serkis’s next directorial project will be the next Lord of the Rings movie, The Hunt For Gollum, starring himself as the title character alongside returning cast members Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan and Lee Pace as well as newcomers Jamie Dornan, Leo Woodall and Kate Winslet.
So, soon, we'll get to see his take on another beloved property. However, for now, you can see Andy Serkis' take on Animal Farm in theaters now.
