From Tomb Raider to Splinter Cell, Netflix has been steadily rolling out animated adaptations of popular video-game franchises. Next on the slate, according to reports, is Activision’s beloved mascot, Crash Bandicoot.
What’s on Netflix says the streamer is “quietly developing” an animated series centered on the mutated marsupial, with animation studio WildBrain attached. WildBrain — which previously collaborated with Netflix on Sonic Prime, Ninjago: Dragons Rising, and Carmen Sandiego — is also working on a Minecraft animated project for the service.
Very few specifics have surfaced so far, including whether the series would adapt an existing game or follow an original storyline.
Crash Bandicoot first appeared in Naughty Dog’s 1996 platformer Crash Bandicoot. Originally a PlayStation exclusive, the franchise eventually expanded to multiple platforms. 2008’s Crash: Mind Over Mutant was the last major console release before the series went on hiatus; it returned in 2017 with the remastered Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which helped revive interest in the character.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time arrived in 2020 to generally positive reviews, though reports suggested its sales didn’t meet Activision’s expectations. A follow-up, Crash 5, was reportedly canceled; since then the franchise has seen only a mobile release and the multiplayer action title Crash Team Rumble.
Crash has previously appeared in animation — the character guest-starred in several episodes of Netflix’s Skylanders Academy. Should a standalone Netflix series move forward, it would join a growing slate of game-to-screen adaptations at the streamer, including projects based on Guerrilla Games’ Horizon and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed.
Source: Polygon
