“It’s pronounced Fronkensteen!” A comedy series based on the Mel Brooks classic 1974 film Young Frankenstein, titled “Very Young Frankenstein,” is nearing a pilot order from FX, Deadline reports today.
While Brooks himself is said to have given the series his blessing and will executive produce, it’s the talent attached that also has our attention.
The new series hails from a trio of creative minds behind FX’s “What We Do in the Shadows“: Stefani Robinson, the writer and showrunner for the new series; Taika Waititi, attached to direct the pilot; and Garrett Basch. All three will executive produce alongside Mel Brooks.
Amusingly, the plot description gives absolutely nothing away. “Inspired by Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein. Previously, on What We Do in the Shadows, Colin Robinson, a main character in the series, was turned into a baby who had to grow up all over again. Whether or not the show creatives have something similar in mind for Very Young Frankenstein is unknown. Casting for the pilot has yet to begin.”
Also executive producing are Brooks’ producing partner Kevin Salter (History of the World, Part 2, Spaceballs 2) and Young Frankenstein producer Michael Gruskoff.
The 1974 original starred Gene Wilder as a young Dr. Frankenstein, who followed in his ancestor’s freaky footsteps by reanimating a dead body after inheriting a castle in Transylvania. Peter Boyle, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, and Madeline Kahn also starred in Mel Brooks’ brilliantly outrageous riff on Mary Shelley’s classic story of Frankenstein.
Young Frankenstein was previously nominated for two Academy Awards and adapted as a Broadway musical, which debuted on November 8, 2007.
With the minds behind the effortlessly charming comedy series “What We Do in the Shadows“ and Mel Brooks himself attached, this has the potential to become another delightful horror parody series.
Stay tuned.