Netflix has picked up the cult graphic novel series “The Umbrella Academy” to a 10-episode series, the streaming service announced Tuesday.
The graphic novels, created by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance fame and illustrated by Gabriel Bá, follow the estranged members of a family of superheroes — the titular Umbrella Academy — as they work to solve their father’s mysterious death. The crew includes colorful characters including Spaceboy, The Kraken, The Rumor, The Séance, Number Five, The Horror, and The White Violin.
In the world, superpowered infants are born to seemingly unconnected mothers and are adopted by a man called The Monocle, who is in fact an extraterrestrial.
It’s similar in a lot of ways to “Watchmen” by Alan Moore in that it takes place in an alternate universe (here it’s where John F. Kennedy was never assassinated) and stars a varied cast of characters. The graphic novels, in different ways than “Watchmen,” play on the idea of superhero story tropes.
“What drew us to ‘The Umbrella Academy’ is that it’s wholly unique, visual and stylized,” said Cindy Holland, vice president of original content for Netflix. “These aren’t the usual superheroes, and this series will embrace the singular tone of the graphic novels — dark yet humorous, supernatural yet grounded in reality.”
The first issue debuted in 2007. The first series won the Eisner Award in 2008 for Best Finite Series/Limited Series.
A screen adaptation has been in the works since at least 2010. At one point, Mark Bomback (“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”) wrote a draft of the screenplay. “Dodgeball” director Rawson Thurber was brought on to rewrite in 2011. In 2015, a television adaptation with Universal Cable Productions was announced.
“I am thrilled that The Umbrella Academy has found a home at Netflix. I couldn’t think of a better place for the vision Gabriel Bá and myself had when creating the comic, and cannot wait for people to experience that world as a live action show,” said Gerard Way.
He also expressed his emotions towards the news on Instagram with some original art by Bá.
Universal Cable is still set to produce. Steve Blackman (“Fargo”) is set as showrunner and executive producer. Additional executive producers include Bluegrass Television and Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg from Dark Horse Entertainment.
The series is set to debut in 2018.
14 TV Shows You Forgot Were Based on Comics (Photos)
Netflix's Marvel series and The CW's DC series get all the attention, but not every comic book adaptation on TV is a super-powered part of a multi-show universe.
"Dark Matter" (Syfy) The "Dark Matter" TV series came years after the debut of the Dark Horse comic book that it's based on, but creators Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie originally conceived of the series -- about six individuals who wake up on a starship together with their memories wiped -- as a TV show before it was redeveloped as a comic in 2012.
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"Wynonna Earp" (Syfy) Syfy has a number of science fiction series based on lesser known comic book titles, including the fan-favorite "Wynonna Earp," starring Melanie Scrofano as the demon-fighting descendent of legendary lawman Wyatt Earp.
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"Outcast" (Cinemax) After the massive success of AMC's "The Walking Dead," creator Robert Kirkman went on to adapt his supernatural horror comic series "Outcast" for television. The adaptation, starring Patrick Fugit as the titular outcast, debuted on Cinemax in 2016.
Cinemax
"iZombie" (The CW) The CW's "Arrowverse" gets all the attention for being the network's hugely successful adaptation of several iconic DC Comics series, but the network also has the crime dramedy "iZombie" from "Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas on its slate. The show is a very loose adaptation of the comic book series of the same name from DC's Vertigo imprint.
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"Lucifer" (Fox) Lead character Lucifer Morningstar, the "Lord of Hell" who abdicates his throne to move to Los Angeles, was created by Neil Gaiman for the Vertigo series "The Sandman" in 1980. The character landed his own TV show in 2016 when Fox debuted "Lucifer," starring Tom Ellis.
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"Preacher" (AMC) Given the runaway success of "The Walking Dead," it was natural that AMC would turn to a different comic book adaptation as its follow-up. Starring Dominic Cooper as a Texas preacher, 2016's "Preacher," based on the Vertigo comic book series, was developed by Sam Catlin, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen.
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"Human Target" (Fox) The DC Comics character Christopher Chance has been twice adapted for television, once in 1992 on ABC and then in 2010 on Fox, with Mark Valley playing the assassin-turned-security consultant. Both iterations were fairly short-lived, with ABC's version lasting seven episodes and Fox's take faring slightly better, at two seasons.
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"Tales From the Crypt" (HBO) HBO's famous horror anthology series "Tales From the Crypt" was actually a loose adaptation of several EC Comics horror franchises. Many of the show's tales were adapted from EC's three horror magazines, "Tales from the Crypt," "The Vault of Horror" and "The Haunt of Fear."
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"The Middleman" (ABC Family) Javier Grillo-Marxuach's Viper Comics series "The Middleman," about a secret agency that fights evil, was originally intended to be a TV series, but was later developed as a comic. In 2008, Grillo-Marxuach's original vision was realized when "The Middleman" ran for 13 episodes as an ABC Family series.
ABC Family
"Harsh Realm" (Fox) Following "The X-Files," Chris Carter adapted the comic book "Harsh Realm" by James D. Hudnall and Andrew Paquette for an extremely short-lived Fox series. The show, about a group of humans trapped in a virtual reality simulation, ran for just three episodes before it was yanked from the schedule and banished to sister network FX.
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"Sabrina the Teenage Witch" (ABC) Long before Archie himself would hit the small screen on "Riverdale," the Archie Comics series "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" was adapted into a hit ABC sitcom starring Melissa Joan Hart. The legacy of that long-running show has led to much speculation about whether the character might one day show up on the new CW adaptation of her sister comic.
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“Snowpiercer” (TNT) The series version of “Snowpiercer” is billed as a reboot of Bong Joon-Ho’s critically acclaimed 2013 film, but both projects are based on the 1982 French graphic novel “Le Transperceneige” by by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand and Jean-Marc Rochette.
TNT
"Raising Dion" (Netflix) Adapted from the 2015 comic book by Dennis Liu, “Raising Dion” is one part superhero origin story and one part family drama, starring Alisha Wainwright as a widowed mother trying to raise a superpowered 7-year-old.
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“The End of the F***ing World” (Netflix) Starring Alex Lawther as a self-diagnosed potential psychopath and Jessica Barden as the classmate he decides to murder, the first season of “The End of the F***ing World” draws from Charles Forsman’s 2013 graphic novel of the same name.
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It turns out they aren’t all about superheroes
Netflix's Marvel series and The CW's DC series get all the attention, but not every comic book adaptation on TV is a super-powered part of a multi-show universe.
Syfy
