Deadline had just announced earlier today that Paramount+ had just ordered a new animated series based on the famous comic strip cat by Jim Davis, Garfield. With the character voiced by Emmy-winner, Lamorne Morris (New Girl, Woke, Spider-Noir).
Currently titled as just Garfield at the moment, the forthcoming show will be produced through Nickelodeon Animation Studios with Dave H. Johnson (Middlemost Post) and John Trabbic III (SpongeBob SquarePants) serving as executive producers. This officially marks the first animated series based on the character to be produced in-house by Nick themselves since the buyout of the IP by Davis from their then-parent company, Viacom in 2019 nearly seven years ago. In recent years due, Garfield's presence under the Paramount umbrella was featured in the Nickelodeon crossover video game titles, All-Star Brawl and Kart Racers featuring Frank Welker reprising his role from the 2009 CGI series that aired on Cartoon Network and a trilogy of direct-to-video films he starred in.
Garfield's history in animation dates back to the 1980s where a series of animated specials produced by Davis and Film Roman were kicked off with 1982's Here Comes Garfield starring Lorenzo Music as the titular feline on CBS. He then would continue voicing him onward annually in the specials and the classic animated series, Garfield and Friends from 1988 to 1994. Music passed away on August 4th, 2001 at the age of 64 from complications of cancer. The character would later make the jump to the silver screen in 2004's Garfield: The Movie, with his voice provided by Bill Murray and reprised the role in the sequel, A Tale of Two Kitties in 2006 released by 20th Century Studios. It wouldnt be until 2024 when an animated feature film, The Garfield Movie, released by Sony under their Columbia Pictures division and produced by Alcon Entertainment, would be released with Chris Pratt stepping into the lazy-orange colored reigns. A sequel is current in the works with Pratt set to return.
Since his debut in 1978, the syndicated comic strip chronicles the everyday lives of the titular feline living with his owner Jon Arbuckle and pet dog Odie. The series has currently have no date set to debut on the service. But one thing for sure, it will not make your monday suck. Comment below to see how this type of news is gonna improve your daliy life with Garfield coming back to television.