The ever-busy Adam Wingard is set to storm theaters next month with Onslaught, a new horror-tinged action thriller that hearkens back to his earlier films like You’re Next and The Guest. Before that, he spent several years in the MonsterVerse, helming Godzilla vs. Kong and its sequel, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. And while he’s handed directorial duties on next year’s Godzilla x Kong: Supernova over to Grant Sputore, Wingard isn’t finished with iconic pop-culture creatures just yet.
ThunderCats, an adaptation of the 1980s animated series of the same name, was first announced by Warner Bros back in 2021 with Wingard as director and frequent collaborator Simon Barrett as screenwriter. Barrett has written or co-written many of Wingard‘s previous projects, most recently 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Wingard has talked about his love for the cult-classic 1980s series, and discussed wanting to make a CG-live action hybrid that captures its vintage aesthetic. However, in the intervening five years, updates about the series have been as elusive as a speeding Cheetara.
But don’t invoke those ancient spirits of evil just yet. Now, in a new interview with Polygon for Onslaught, Wingard says that the Thundercats project, like Mumm-Ra, is ever-living: “I think it’s just a matter of finding time to really re-concentrate and re-engage with it. We did a new draft at the beginning of this year. It wasn’t too long ago, and then things got put on hold for this movie. So I don’t really have any exciting updates. But it’s not dead. It lives. It’s just not the number one [thing] I’m working on right now.” It’s one of a number of toy-based films in the works at the moment; Masters of the Universe hit theaters earlier in the summer, and Matchbox is set to race on to Apple TV this fall.
What Is ‘Thundercats’ About?
The series centers around the ThunderCats, a race of feline aliens fleeing their dying planet Thundera to resettle on the idyllic Third Earth; they’re led by the youthful Lion-O, a mighty warrior whose Sword of Omens contains the powerful Eye of Thundera. Befriending the natives of the planet, the ThunderCats soon make Third Earth their home base, but its peace is soon shattered when their enemies, the misshapen Mutants, track them down. The Mutants fall under the sway of Mumm-Ra, a mummy-like lich who covets the Eye of Thundera to make himself all-powerful. The series was revived as an anime-inspired series on Cartoon Network in the 2010s, and later as the comedic ThunderCats Roar in 2020. An animated film, apparently separate from Wingard‘s project, is also in development.
ThunderCats is in development.
via Collider