Warner Bros. Teases ‘Get Jiro’, ‘Hit Squad’ and Reveals ‘Dark Shadows’

Warner Bros. Animation, hugely active in Annecy this year, unveiled a new animated series “Dark Shadows” in Annecy on Friday, confirming the studio’s push in adult animation into genres other than adult comedy.

The show is a new version of the cult 1960s TV series and is in very early stages of development, with Lisa Holdsworth, creator of Channel 4’s ‘Dreamers’ and a writer on Sky’s ‘Discovery of Witches’ and BBC’s ‘Call the Midwife’, appointed as executive producer and showrunner. Cathy Curtis, Tracy Curtis, Eric Homan, Kevin Kolde and Fred Seibert serve as executive producers.

The announcement was made Friday during a WBA adult animation showcase at Annecy’s Mifa Market, hosted by Shaleen Desai, senior VP, creative affairs, and Peter Girardi, executive VP, alternative programming at Warner Bros. Animation.

In 1967, the supernatural family saga gained a large teen following after introducing family member Barnabas Collins, a vampire played by Jonathan Frid, which became ABC’s highest-rated daytime series and spawned several spinoffs, including a 2012 film of Tom Burton’s starring Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer.

The new version is under development. It remains to be seen which way Warner Bros. Animation will pick up the new series. WBA used the adult animation session to add more granularity to some of the – and even Annecy’s – biggest announcements made at the French animation festival this week.

These include greenlighting series development for “Absolute Batman,” an adaptation of the hit comic book, and a series greenlighting for DC’s first anime series “Joker: Laugh Riot” – plus series development for “Krypto,” which saw some of DC’s biggest superheroes and supervillains enrolled in, as WPA noted, a wide range of styles, tones and stories for audiences of all ages..

These big plays for Warner Bros. Animation and DC’s announcement Wednesday in Annecy followed the world premiere of “Batman: Knightfall,” the first part of a planned animated film trilogy.

One of the biggest comic book events of the 1990s, starring Anson Mount and Michael Mando and unveiling a Robin we’ve hardly seen in films before, was played to thunderous applause in Annecy on Tuesday Variety noted.

During Friday’s adult animation showcase, Warner Bros. Animation and Hanna-Barbera studios also released the first footage of the Gerry Anderson-inspired puppet television series “Hit Squad,” showing extended footage to an enthusiastic audience.

“We are very excited to bring this brand new series, written by Gerry Anderson in the late 1970s, to the screen,” said Giraldi. “With upgrades to the puppetry and a mix of CG and practical effects, ‘Hit Squad’ combines action with dark humor from both Hanna-Barbera Europe and Warner Bros. Animation teams.”

Returning to their new Adult Swim family show “Keeping Up With the Joneses,” the WBA duo described the upcoming series as part of “an emphasis on original storytelling, with character-based comedy bringing the ‘family comedy show’ genre to our longtime partners and friends at Adult Swim.”

Adult animation teams are one of the fastest growing divisions at Warner Bros. Animation, with titles like ‘Harley Quinn’, ‘Kiteman’ and more. They’ve pushed the boundaries of both WBA and DC Studios’ old IPs while opening themselves up to new animated stories. “We don’t have a corporate identity,” Girardi adds. “Instead, we let the show dictate that.”

To prove the point, the duo shared previously revealed early development footage of the upcoming “Absolute Batman” series, which debuted the Bonlieu during Wednesday’s DC Studios showcase.

An even better testament to this approach is certainly ‘Get Jiro’, a project seven years in the making and has long been one of Annecy’s most anticipated projects. Following up on the 2025 work-in-progress session, the duo treated attendees on Friday at the Aviary, Mifa’s largest venue, with a screening of the first episode of the series, revealing the post-apocalyptic setting of this kitchen-revenge-driven half-hour show.

Animation fans were in for a very tasty treat, as the episode introduced villains and set the tone for the brutal show, adapted from the late Anthony Bourdain’s best-selling Vertigo series, co-created with Joel Rose.

John Hopewell contributed to this article.