Disney Developing Live-Action Animorphs Series with Coogler

Disney is developing a live-action television adaptation of the popular young adult sci-fi book series "Animorphs," with Ryan Coogler set to executive produce through his Proximity Media banner. The project, in early stages at the streaming service, aims to bring the 1990s franchise to a new generation of viewers.

The series follows a group of high school students who discover a hidden alien threat infiltrating their daily lives. While navigating relationships, curfews, and the pressures of adolescence, they gain a extraordinary ability that unites them in a secret fight to protect Earth. In the original books, the protagonists—Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias—learn of an invasion by parasitic aliens called Yeerks, who control hosts by entering their brains. A dying member of the Andalite species, longtime enemies of the Yeerks, grants the teens the power to morph into any animal they touch by absorbing its DNA. They use these transformations creatively to wage guerrilla warfare against the invaders, later joined by Ax, a young Andalite stranded on the planet. The narrative explores themes of resistance, the psychological costs of conflict, and moral dilemmas, often from...