“Hello again, friend of a friend.” Scott Pilgrim, the hit six-volume comic book series by artist-creator Bryan Lee O’Malley that began in 2006, was first adapted a little over a decade ago with Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Although the 2010 adaption didn’t do well at the box office, it was well received by critics and has earned a significant following in the years since its release. Now, Scott Pilgrim is returning to the screen, but this time it’s getting an anime adaptation on Netflix.
Back in 2020, there were some murmurs from Wright that an animated Scott Pilgrim series was already in the works, but then the pandemic happened and fans haven’t heard anything about the adaption in over a year. But now, it seems Wright’s dream is about to be a reality, with the showrunner behind the revival of Are You Afraid of the Dark? at Nickelodeon, BenDavid Grabinski, and Scott Pilgrim artist-creator O’Malley just announced as writing and executive producing duo behind the new animated Scott Pilgrim series for Netflix.
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Although there is no series order yet, an exclusive report in The Hollywood Reporter confirms that Netflix and UCP, the division of Universal Studio Group behind The Umbrella Academy and Chucky, are developing an anime adaption of the Oni Press series Scott Pilgrim, which follows the eponymous character as he battles the seven evil exes of Ramona Flowers. However, as Pilgrim moves through the challenges, things get complicated for him thanks to his unresolved issues with his ex-girlfriend, Envy Adams, who is played by Brie Larson in Wright’s adapation of the graphic novel.
Fans of Wright’s 2010 cult adaption are still talking about it a decade later. In one of Larson’s first gigs as an actress, she plays the role of Envy Adams and steals the show with a cover of the song “Black Sheep,” which was originally performed by the band Metric. The omission of Larson’s version of “Black Sheep” on the film’s original 22-song soundtrack forced fans to seek it out online, where the scene has racked up more than 55 million views on YouTube.
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And yes, Wright also has his hand in the anime adaptation at Netflix. Wright famously became interested in adapting Scott Pilgrim when he was given a copy on his press tour for 2004’s Shaun of the Dead, and then dedicated two years of his life to making Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, instead of Ant-Man for Marvel Studios. In the decades since the film’s release, it’s only gotten more popular with its fanbase, and thanks to Wright’s incredible eye the movie has even influenced future Scott Pilgrim comics by O’Malley. He’s credited as an executive producer alongside O’Malley and Grabinski.
Should the streaming service move forward with the Scott Pilgrim anime series, Grabinski and O’Malley will also be showrunners for the show, with the Japanese anime production house Science SARU, known for Adventure Time: Food Chain and Ping Pong: The Animation, on tap for animation. The company’s Eunyoung Choi is listed as the show’s producer. Then, directing duties will go to the Spanish animator Abel Góngora, who is known for the short “T0-B1” about a droid who dreams of being a Jedi from Star Wars: Visions.
