Disney is taking a second run at Artemis Fowl, and this time it is going animated. The company confirmed at New York Comic-Con that a new animated series based on Eoin Colfer’s fantasy novels is in development. The news came during a panel marking 25 years since the first book was published in 2001.
Details are scarce. Disney has not named a writer, showrunner, voice cast, episode count or release window, and the project is described as being in early development. Colfer, who created the series, said he is pleased to be part of the team and confident the story is in good hands. It is a warm endorsement, but it doesn’t tell fans anything about tone, format or which books the show will adapt.
The more interesting story is why Disney is trying again. Its 2020 live-action film, directed by Kenneth Branagh, was meant for theaters but went straight to Disney+ during the pandemic. Critics and longtime readers largely rejected it, and many complained that it gutted the books’ plot and turned Artemis from a calculating young criminal into a far more conventional hero. The film has since disappeared from Disney+ and is currently available only to rent or buy on digital storefronts such as Prime Video and Apple TV. That is an unusual fate for a Disney-owned title, and it suggests the company is happy to move on from that version.
Animation could suit the material better. Colfer’s books mix heist thrillers with a fairy world full of goblins, dwarves and high-tech underground police. That kind of spectacle can look expensive and awkward in live action, but animation can handle it more easily. A series also gives the sprawling, eight-book story room to breathe, rather than squeezing it into a two-hour film.
The timing also fits Disney’s wider strategy. Percy Jackson and the Olympians has become one of Disney+’s more reliable original series, with a third season due later this year. Last month, Disney announced it is working with Rick Riordan on an adaptation of The Kane Chronicles. Adding Artemis Fowl points to a deliberate push into young adult fantasy books that millennials grew up with and can now share with their kids.
The real test is whether the new series keeps what made the books work: a morally gray antihero who is often the smartest and least likeable person in the room. If Disney softens him again, the reboot risks repeating the mistakes it is meant to fix.
