Rugrats, the beloved ’90s cartoon that ran for several seasons, is returning to Nickelodeon, making it the latest Nick show to get the reboot treatment.
The move to reboot Rugrats arrives on multiple fronts. On the TV side, Nickelodeon has ordered 26 episodes of Rugrats. It’s unclear just when the show will air, but Nickelodeon has already started production on it with creators Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó and Paul Germain all on hand as executive producers.
But on top of the show, Rugrats is also getting another movie. The film, which is being described as a “live-action film featuring CGI characters,” has been greenlit by Paramount Pictures under its new film counterpart Paramount Players with a tentative release date of Nov. 13, 2020. It’ll be the fourth from the franchise, and first since 2003’s Rugrats Go Wild.
As for which period in time the show and movie will feature? Although Rugrats had a spinoff series exploring the lives of its characters as teenagers in All Grown Up!, the revival will zero back in on the lives and adventures of its babies and toddlers—Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Angelica, and Susie—along with new characters that will be introduced in the show. (Newer characters in the classic series such as Dil and Kimi were not mentioned.)
“Rugrats is hands-down one of the most celebrated cartoons in TV history, and we are thrilled for a whole new audience to meet these iconic characters in brand-new adventures,” Viacom Media Networks and Nickelodeon Interim President Sarah Levy said in a statement. “What was true in 1991 when the original show premiered is still true today: kids are fascinated with the world of babies.”
With reboots of Hey Arnold!, Rocko’s Modern Life, Blue’s Clues, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Dora the Explorer, and Invader Zim (among others), Rugrats’ return was practically an inevitability. But Nickelodeon and Paramount are framing the return of TV’s most curious and rambunctious toddlers as a way of re-introducing the characters.
“Kids who grew up with Tommy Pickles and the Rugrats crew will now be able to share that experience with their own children,” Paramount Players president Brian Robbins added.
H/T Variety