Disney+ Spiderwick Chronicles Series Finds Two Leads, Adds Christian Slater as Villain
Disney+'s live-action reboot of The Spiderwick Chronicles just took a big step forward, locking down three of its most important roles for the adaptation. Deadline brings word that actors Lyon Daniels (We Can Be Heroes) and Noah Cottrell (Gordita Chronicles, Skyscraper) have been tapped to take on the role of twin brothers Jared and Simon, the two lead roles in the story. They'll also be joined in the series by Mr. Robot and Dr. Death star Christian Slater who will be taking on the part of the show's chief villain, Dr. Dorian Brauer/Mulgarath. The trade notes he's only signed for one season.
Kat Coiro, one of the directors of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, will helm the first two episodes of the series which is created and showrun by Aron Eli Coleite (Star Trek Discovery, Locke & Key). Additional executive producers on the series include Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, D.J. Goldberg and Julie Kane Ritsch. The series was confirmed to be in the works by The Walt Disney Company back in February, announced alongside the likes of National Treasure: Edge of History, a new Goosebumps adaptation, and the upcoming Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
The Spiderwick Chronicles, based on the best-selling books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, is a modern coming-of-age story combined with a fantasy-adventure as the Grace Family – twin brothers Jared and Simon, their sister Mallory and mother Helen – move into their dilapidated ancestral home and begin to unravel a dark mystery about their great-great uncle, who once discovered the secret and maybe foreboding faerie world existing parallel to their own.
DiTerlizzi and Black's original series consisted of five books — The Field Guide, The Seeing Stone, Lucinda's Secret, the Ironwood Tree, and The Wrath of Mulgarath, but also spawned the spinoff series Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles, which included the three novels The Nixie's Song, A Giant Problem, and The Wyrm King.
A previous adaptation of the first novel came in the form of the 2008 feature film, which starred a young Freddie Highmore playing both Jared and Simon Grace. Despite largely positive reviews, the film was a box office disappointment.