Live-Action ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost’ Series Developing

Christina Ricci in 1995’s ‘Casper’. Photo: Universal Pictures.

Preview:

A new take on ‘Casper’ is in development.
Rob Letterman and Hilary Winston are overseeing the potential new show.
It’s based at Disney+.

While the friendly ghost might be best known for his 1995 movie incarnation, Casper has a legacy that stretches back years (more on that below).

And now, the character might be coming back in live-action/CGI form, as Disney+ has Rob Letterman (who co-directed the movie) and sitcom veteran Hilary Winston developing a new series.

Release Date: May 26, 1995

Run Time: 1 hr 40 min

Budget: $50,000,000

It’s at a very early stage at this point, but while we were surprised that it wasn’t headed to Peacock (since the film was a Universal Pictures release), Deadline reports it’s all part of an aim of Universal Content Productions to have a show on every streamer.

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What’s the story of ‘Casper’?

(L to R) Eric Idle, Cathy Moriarty and Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz from ‘Ghostbusters’ in 1995’s ‘Casper’. Photo: Universal Pictures.

The friendly ghost originated a string of animated movies by Famous Studios released between 1945 and 1959. That’s when the character was acquired by Harvey Comics, which had published Casper comics since 1952. Since then, Casper has headlined a slew of comic books, five animated TV series as well as Universal’s 1995 live-action feature, which starred Christina Ricci as a young girl who becomes best pals with the titular spirit (and also boasts a fun cameo by Dan Aykroyd as his Ray Stanz character from ‘Ghostbusters’).

What will the tone of the new show be?

According to Deadline’s report, the aim is for the show to have a slightly darker edge than previous interpretations, more along the lines of Netflix hit ‘Wednesday’, though obviously still with a feel-good focus.