Animorphs Author Shares Concerns About The TV Adaptation, And There’s One Thing I Desperately Want As A Fan Of The ‘90s Books

There’s nothing like a good book-to-screen adaptation to recruit readers to new TV shows and movies, and news that an Animorphs series is in the works is sure to pique the interest of millennials everywhere with memories of Scholastic book fairs between 1996-2001. Years after the movie rumors that ultimately went nowhere and decades after the Nickelodeon adaptation is probably left back in 1998 where it belongs, K.A. Applegate’s book saga is in the works for a streaming platform.

The author opened up about some valid concerns to go with at least one reason to be optimistic. As a fan going back to the '90s, I have several hopes for the project if it becomes a full series, but there's only one thing I desperately want from it.

K.A. Applegate's "Concerns" About The Projects

An Animorphs TV series is in the early stages of development at Disney+ as of April in the 2026 TV schedule, according to Variety, which reports that The Testaments writer Bayan Wolcott is on board as writer and executive producer. As part of his production company, Proximity Media, Ryan Coogler is also on board as an EP, extending his reach back into ‘90s IPs beyond just his reboot of The X-Files for Hulu. Other EPs include Sev Ohanion and Zinzi Coogler from Proximity, and Iole Lucchese and Caitlin Friedman from Scholastic.

The outlet reports that the premise is pretty close to the overall arc of the books, with the focus on a group of teens who discover a hidden threat underneath their normal daily lives, as another complication to the usual teen woes of curfews, relationships, and high school. Interestingly, that description doesn’t mention the parasitic aliens that are invading the planet or even the group of teens – comprised of Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and eventually Ax – gaining the ability to morph into animals in the source material.

Shortly after the news broke, K.A. Applegate shared her thoughts on the project, along with those of her husband and writing partner MIchael Grant. She posted on Bluesky:

Considering that Ohanian is both an Anirmorphs fan, a collaborator with Ryan Coogler on projects like Sinners and The X-Files reboot, and a producer on other Disney+ shows including Eyes of Wakanda and Ironheart, hopefully Applegate’s faith in him is indeed a good sign about the project. As for being “under-resourced” as an adaptation… well, not to knock the ‘90s version, I’m pretty sure any modern version would be an improvement on what Nickelodeon could do back in the day.

What I Desperately Want After Devouring The Books As A Kid

I won’t lie – as somebody who voraciously read the Animorphs books as soon as I could get my hands on them in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, my wish list started coming together pretty quickly as soon as I saw the news about the Disney+ project. I’d love to see it set in the ‘90s, for example, not least because the whole premise will work much better without the conveniences of smart phones. I want to see castings that are as book-accurate as possible, especially for Cassie, Marco, and Rachel. A grander scale compared to the Nickelodeon show would be great.

But my biggest wish is probably also the one that’s the least likely to come true, considering that the project would be heading to the home of Percy Jackson & the Olympians, a.k.a. a pretty kid-friendly book adaptation. There’s nothing majorly wrong with Percy Jackson, as you can see for yourself with a Disney+ subscription. My ideal adaptation of Animorphs honestly just wouldn’t be 100% aimed at kids.

Bear with me, if you're not familiar with the source material, because I'm not saying that I want a dark and gritty take on a happy tale of animal-themed adventures! The books definitely aren't telling a bright and shiny story with happy endings all around. "Bright and shiny" are adjectives that really only apply to the iconic paperback covers.

On the other hand, if you, like me, are a millennial who checked out the books for the first time just because of those cool covers with kids turning into animals, then you learned from a young age that Animorphs is astonishingly dark as a series targeted – per Scholastic – at the age range of 8-12 and grades 3-7.

Sure, there are shenanigans to go along with the horrors of war, but even the fun book about dumping oatmeal onto the parasitic aliens (a.k.a. the Yeerks) also touched on claustrophobia, suicide, and biological warfare. (Fun fact: that was my gateway book of the saga.) There’s torture and war crimes and bloody battles, all involving kids without any adult supervision.

Could A Version Aimed At Millennials Actually Happen?

There’s not really any getting around some of the darkest elements, even if the show doesn’t adapt some of the later storylines from about Book 20 onward. I’d love if Animorphs was only technically a kids show in the same way that Stranger Things is a kids show: the main characters are youngsters, but they’re not necessarily who the series is made for. The project aging the kids up to high school could be a sign that I’ll get some of what I want.

In all seriousness, do I think that an Animorphs series will be aimed at an older audience than Percy Jackson or some of the other kid-friendly offerings on Disney+? Not really, but I do know that there’s an audience of 30-40-somethings out there who would definitely tune in for a faithful adaptation. If Stranger Things could tell a dark story with kids at the center, why not other shows?

Of course, at the time of writing, this project is only in the early stages of development, so it may be a while until more updates are available, let alone news of a pilot order that may or may not happen. For now… well, maybe I need to revisit the books as an adult and see for myself just how twisted it was that I was reading them before I was even in double digits.

Plus, until I know otherwise, I can at least enjoy the idea of a bunch of teens listening to ‘90s jams on their boom boxes, taping the news off the TV with their VCRs, idolizing (or not idolizing) Xena: Warrior Princess, hanging out at the mall, and then dabbling in sci-fi guerilla warfare against evil parasitic aliens. It could honestly be hard to watch a kid-friendly version, knowing how different the source material is.

But hey, the books were certainly educational! I wouldn’t have learned nearly as much as a kid about red-tailed hawks, grizzly bears, and the implications of violating the Geneva Convention if I wasn't digging into K.A. Applegate's series each month.