Fans of Jim Henson's classic fantasy film The Dark Crystal received some exciting news back when it was announced a prequel series was in the works at Netflix, and now Deadline reports today that another Jim Henson property is being reimagined, the fantasy anthology series “The Storyteller”. The series originally premiered in 1987 and told various folktales using puppets and actors.
Fremantle has teamed with The Jim Henson Company and Neil Gaiman (“American Gods”) to bring the series back to modern audiences.
“In the new incarnation, written and executive produced by Gaiman, The Storyteller will create a mystical world combining various fairy tales and folklore.”
“Part of what fascinates me about The Storyteller is the stuff that we don’t know,” Gaiman explained. “Who was the Storyteller, why was he telling these stories, was he a goblin, what kind of creature? What I’d love to do is an inside story that’s as long as the outside story. We’re going to find out a lot about who the storyteller is, we’re going to find out things we don’t even know that we don’t know. We’re going to begin in a Northern kingdom where stories are forbidden and where the act of telling a story is liable and can get you imprisoned or executed. If you put a storyteller into that situation, things would need to start getting interactive.”
He added, “The original Storyteller was a brilliantly written, directed and told set of stories. It’s a terrifying and inspiring task to reinvent what Jim Henson did for the golden age of television we are in right now, and I’m honored that The Jim Henson Company would entrust me with the task of bringing back the storyteller and his magical stories, and sending him out into the world for a whole new round of tales.”
"The Storyteller" will be produced by Fremantle in association with The Jim Henson Company, with Lisa Henson serving as executive producer and Blanca Lista as co-executive producer. Gaiman, who has a long-standing relationship with Fremantle, will also serve as executive producer.