
Yabba-Dabbo-Doo! Elizabeth Banks’ Flintstones sequel series Bedrock has landed at Fox.
The network is developing the primetime animated adult comedy series with the Charlie Angels and Hunger Games star set to voice Pebbles Flintstone in addition to producing.
Banks has been developing a Flintstones project for a couple of years with Warner Bros. Animation as part of her overall deal with the studio via her Brownstone Productions.
It comes ten years after Seth MacFarlane developed a reboot of The Flintstones at Fox although it did not go forward.
Bedrock will follow the Flintstone family two decades after the original, with Fred on the brink of retirement and 20-something Pebbles embarking on her own career. As the Stone Age gives way to a shiny and enlightened new Bronze Age, the residents of Bedrock will find this evolution harder than a swing from Bamm-Bamm’s club.
It will be interesting to see where Banks’ Pebbles is in her life. In The Flintstones canon, as seen in ABC’s 1993 made-for-television animated movie, Pebbles, voices by Megan Mullally, works for an advertising agency, marries Bamm-Bamm and ends up moving to Hollyrock, a fictional version of Hollywood.
The pilot script is being written by Lindsay Kerns, who has written Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and DC Super Hero Girls.
The original series, produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, ran for six seasons on ABC and was the first animated series to air in primetime. Fox’s AVOD service Tubi has acquired the rights to all 166 episodes of the show and will launch it on May 1, coming on the back of its recent 60th anniversary.
Bedrock will be co-produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Fox Entertainment. Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman will executive produce through Brownstone Productions, with Brownstone’s Dannah Shinder and Lindsay Kerns serving as co-exec producers.
“Long before the Simpsons and Springfield, the Griffins and Quahog or even when the Belchers started serving burgers on Ocean Avenue, there were the Flintstones and Bedrock,” said Michael Thorn, President, Entertainment, Fox Entertainment. “Their imprint on the animation universe is undeniable and the idea of adapting it for today’s audience is a challenge we here at Fox are very much looking forward to taking on with Warner Bros., Elizabeth and Lindsay. No pressure whatsoever, really.”
“The Flintstones are the first family of primetime animation,” added Peter Girardi, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming at Warner Bros. Animation. “Elizabeth and Lindsay have a brilliant take on these characters, and Fox and Brownstone are the perfect partners to bring them back to primetime. This is going to rock, sorry.”
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