Viewers, beware, you're in for a scare!
Justin Long has joined the Goosebumps series, currently in pre-production at Disney+, according to Variety. The show is based on the wildly successful R.L. Stine book series of the same name. More than 400 million English-language copies of the books are in print, with the series also being printed in 32 languages worldwide.
The long-rumored announcement of the series was finally confirmed in February 2022, with Long the first cast member to be officially welcomed on board the show. Disney ordered ten episodes of the series for its streaming service. Long will play the role of Nathan Bratt, described as that of 'the new schoolteacher who develops a terrifying connection to a decades-old supernatural murder."
“The series follows a group of five high schoolers who unleash supernatural forces upon their town and must all work together — thanks to and in spite of their friendships, rivalries and pasts with each other — in order to save it, learning much about their own parents’ teenage secrets in the process.”
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The show has been co-created by Nick Stoller and Rob Letterman, who also serve as executive producers alongside Neal H. Moritz. Moritz oversaw production of the two recent Goosebumps feature films, 2015's Goosebumps and 2018's Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween while Letterman directed the first of those before departing due to scheduling conflicts with Pokemon: Detective Pikachu. The movies grossed over $250 million collectively, with Jack Black playing the role of R.L. Stine in both films, although ultimately only as a cameo in the latter.
The Goosebumps series is the second-best-selling book series in history, second only to Harry Potter. Including the number of spin-off series like Tales to Give You Goosebumps and Goosebumps Series 2000, the franchise contains over 200 individual books and counting. Goosebumps was originally published by Scholastic in 1992, and there have been a number of books published every year since then, with more scheduled for publication in 2023.
The Disney+ show is the second Goosebumps live action series to be produced. The original aired between 1996 and 1998 on the Fox Kids Network in the U.S., and featured 74 episodes, each based on a different Goosebumps book. The series will also be executive produced by Pavun Shetty for Original Film, Conor Welch for Stoller Global Solutions, and Iole Lucchese and Caitlin Friedman for Scholastic Entertainment.
There is currently no release date officially announced for Goosebumps.
Christopher is a Movie & TV News Writer for Collider. He was once ranked in the worldwide top ten on Call of Duty: Warzone's Plunder mode. Hasn't stopped talking about it since.
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