Teaser for Disney’s Unmade ‘Haunted Mansion’ Animated Series Released

Haunted Mansion has long been one of Disney‘s most popular attractions, and it’s come very close to getting its very own TV series.

Over New Year’s weekend, Shannon Tindle, creator of Kubo and the Two Strings, shared a teaser for the Haunted Mansion series he had developed for Disney. You can check out the full 60-second teaser in the video above, but don’t get your hopes up, because the series probably isn’t going to happen.

According to Cartoon Brew, Tindle and a small group of creators developed two different pilots for an animated Haunted Mansion series. One was an ongoing series, while the other would have been set for a limited run. Sadly, Disney didn’t move forward with either idea.

“My goal was to take inspiration from all the backstories created by the artists at WED (Disney’s Imagineering division) and stitch it into one, giant narrative,” Tindle told Cartoon Brew. “The story would span several years and focus on different characters, but add up to one big, interconnected story.”

Tindle went on to explain that the show would have had “a lot of fun and silly elements to it,” and that fans would be able to watch the story unfold through the eyes of e grieving character.

“I love playing with tone,” Tindle continued, “an animation is particularly good at weaving broad fun with deeply emotional stories.”

Making tough subjects like loss and the afterlife enjoyable to to young viewers is something that has been done well over the past couple of years, both by Tindle and Disney.

Tindle’s Kubo and the Two Strings was highly-celebrated for its heartfelt message of living out a loved one’s legacy, while Disney and Pixar made waves in 2017 with the success of Coco, a film about a young boy who enters the Land of the Dead on Dia de los Muertos.

Since releasing the Haunted Mansion teaser, Tindle has received overwhelmingly positive reactions from fans who are all hoping to see the series get a second chance. Maybe their enthusiasm could bring this potentially dead series back to life in 2018.