If you're of a certain age, there's a very good chance you'll remember the Garbage Pail Kids Topps trading cards that were released back in the '80s as a parody of the Cabbage Patch Kids, and the effort many parents put in to keep them out of their kids' hands!
Back in 2021, we got word that HBO Max (now known as Max) was developing an animated series based on the property from Danny McBride and David Gordon Green (Halloween, The Exorcist: Believer), who were tasked with co-creating and writing the series for Rough House Pictures.
We've had no updates since, and it was assumed that the project had fallen by the wayside for whatever reason. However, Green has now revealed that the show is still very much in the works for the streaming service.
“Right now, [Danny] McBride and I are trying to do an animated series based on the Garbage Pail Kids cards," the filmmaker tells the Happy Sad Confused podcast. "So, we’re working on that. And we have some really cool ways we can make a pretty naughty animated show. We’ll see if they’ll have us on that one.”
“I use that as an example of pulling something out of I.P. but making it personal and making what appeals to me about it,” he added. “Not necessarily engineering it for everyone in the world. I guess that’s what gets hard for me—making everyone happy. I want to have a point of view, and I want to make something pretty specific and passionate.”
Josh Bycel (Solar Opposites) is also said to be on board as a writer.
Last we heard, this was going to be a “family-friendly” take on the property, but Green's comments would seem to indicate that things may have changed in that regard. Why anyone would even attempt to water down the Garbage Pail Kids or make them more appealing to younger children when the whole point is that they were supposed to be as disgusting and depraved as possible is anyone's guess.
The Garbage Pail Kids' popularity spawned a live-action feature in 1987 that is still widely viewed as one of the worst movies ever made. More recently, the brand was relaunched as a series of books by R.L. Stine, along with a new wave of cards, toys, and more.
Green didn't give any idea of when the series may arrive on our screens, but animated projects take a long time to complete, and if they haven't even started yet, it'll probably be at least a couple of years before it's ready.
Were you a Garbage Pail Kids fan back in the day? Drop us a comment down below.