Pretty much anything is possible in showbiz nowadays when it comes to projects for the large and small screen. On the film side, we have a movie about emojis and a whole franchise based on Legos. On the TV side, we have a game show based on a mobile game. Now, we're getting a new wildly creative show based on something few of us might have anticipated. Classic action figure Stretch Armstrong is getting an animated Netflix show, called Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters. The cast list for the new show -- which is being produced as a collaboration between Netflix and Hasbro -- has been released, and it's full of veterans of The Walking Dead and Star Trek.
In the Walking Dead corner of the cast, we have Steven Yeun, whose character was a major part of the zombie apocalypse until he was brutally murdered at the beginning of Season 7. In the Star Trek corner, we have Wil Wheaton of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek: Voyager, and Walter Koenig of Star Trek: The Original Series. The rest of the cast will be comprised of Scott Menville of Teen Titans Go!, Ogie Banks of Ultimate Spider-Man, Felicia Day of Supernatural, and Keith David of Rick and Morty.
Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters will follow high school student Jake Armstrong (Scott Menville) and his two best pals, Nathan Park (Steven Yeun) and Ricardo Perez (Ogie Banks). They're just a normal group of friends until they are accidentally exposed to a chemical still in its experimental stage. The exposure results in the guys gaining powers and motivating them to become heroes, unlikely though they may be. Many adventures await with many wild characters, some of whom will undoubtedly be more friendly than others.
We've actually known that Netflix and Hasbro were working on a Stretch Armstrong-based TV show for a while now. The news broke way back in January 2016, but the lack of developments in the year and a half since made it seem like the show was never actually going to happen. Now, we even have a release window: the 26 episodes of Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters will become available at some point in late 2017.
As it happens, the Netflix/Hasbro collaboration isn't the first time that there has been talk of a project about Stretch Armstrong. Back in 2009, Hasbro intended to make a film based on the toy. While the movie was ultimately scrapped, it got far enough into development that a tentative release date and a leading man of Twilight fame were announced. Something tells me that an ongoing animated TV show could be a better showcase for the stretchy superhero than we would have gotten on the big screen.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in Netflix news. While we don't yet have an exact premiere date for Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters, we do have plenty of dates on our 2017 Netflix guide. For your other viewing options, swing by our summer and fall TV premiere schedules.
