DC Animation Director to Adapt Fantasy Series Cradle in New Kickstarter Campaign

Cradle is a fantasy series that has taken over as a New York Times bestseller, and now the creator behind the books is teaming up with notable DC Animation director Jay Oliva on a Kickstarter campaign for a new animated adaptation project, Cradle: Unsouled. Beginning back in 2016 with series creator Will Wight’s Hidden Gnome Publishing, Cradle has since gone on to 12 volumes that ended their run last year. But while the fantasy book series has come to an end on the page, it’s far from the potential end of the franchise as the creator is hoping to take Cradle to a new level. 

Cradle series author and Hidden Gnome Publishing founder Will Wight is teaming up with Jay Oliva and the team Lex + Otis Animation Studio on a new plan to bring Cradle to animation with a launched Kickstarter project for Cradle: Unsouled, the first book in the series. Running until February 9th with over 3,800 backers and over half of its current $1 million USD goal funded as of the time of this writing, Cradle: Unsouled’s initial plan is to produce a full “animatic,” which will be the full animated project before finalized details like coloring and polishing. 

What Is Cradle: Unsouled? 

Jay Oliva, director behind DC Animation projects such as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Parts 1 & 2), Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Justice League: Dark and much more, is currently drafting character designs and storyboards for the project that is hoping to provide as much as an animated adaptation as the team can afford. The plan is to see how far they can expand with a “pilot episode, or an episode with some extra shorts, or a series of episodes, or even a feature-length animatic.” And series creator Will Wight promises that it will be made with everything they can do within the team’s budget with Lex + Otis Animation Studio. 

“We wanted to do this as a Kickstarter instead of seeking private funding because we wanted this to be completely a fan project,” stated Wight in a message to fans about the Kickstaer. “Jay’s a fan, I’m a fan, and we want to bring all the Cradle fans with us on this journey. The more support we get from the fan base, the bigger and better we can tell the story, but we’re committed to telling the story no matter how much we raise.”

You can find more information about Cradle: Unsouled‘s now ongoing Kickstarter campaign here. The Cradle series is teased as such, “Cradle is a best-selling 12-book series of fantasy novels with a lightning-fast pace, non-stop action, and tons of magic. It follows the journey of a guy named Lindon, who starts off powerless but sets off on a journey to master the magical martial arts of his world and fight off an apocalypse.”