Peter Serafinowicz Will Play ‘The Tick’ In New Amazon Live-Action Reboot
Reboots are all the rage these days, not only in Hollywood on the big and small screens, but also with streaming services like Netflix. Now, Amazon has jumped on the reboot bandwagon with their revival of the cult favorite superhero The Tick, and signed on to play the titular character is Peter Serafinowicz.
According to Deadline, who broke the story on Tuesday, Peter Serafinowicz will play the role of The Tick in the upcoming Amazon revival of the comic-book-turned-animated-series-turned-failed live-action-series. The reboot of The Tick will also feature Griffin Newman of Vinyl who will play Arthur Everest — also known as Tick’s superhero sidekick The Moth — and Valorie Curry (House of Lies, Veronica Mars) as Arthur’s worrying sister Dot Everest.
Serafinowicz is no stranger to playing roles based on comic book adaptations, having played Denarian Saal in Guardians of the Galaxy. And with the comedic wit fans have grown to love about him, he will likely be great in the role of the comedic superhero. There are sure to be some fans, however, who won’t take kindly to the newcomer taking over the role from Patrick Warburton who turned the original nine-episode live-action 2001 Fox production of The Tick into a cult classic.
Though Warburton may not be portraying The Tick this time around, he hasn’t strayed far from the character — he’s attached to the project as an executive producer. The pilot for the series will be written by Ben Edlund, who you may know as that guy who created the original The Tick comic book series in 1988, the animated series in 1994, and the Fox’s live-action series. Wally Pfister, director of Transcendence, is set to direct the pilot.
The plot of the new series follows comic book canon — the Tick is recovering from memory loss, but unable to shake the desperate need to fight evil. The Tick one again teams up with his old sidekick Arthur, and the two set out to rid (presumably) The City of evildoers. Along the way, they will meet a whole host of new characters, as well as well-known character Dot Everest, a “nurse who loves her brother Arthur to death and worries about him.”
The Tick first got its start in 1986 when a then 18-year-old Ben Edlund created the character as a mascot for the New England Comics store newsletter, reports Den of Geek. Edlund began expanding the character into small stories within the newsletter, and the character of The Tick became so popular with store patrons that the store itself financed a black-and-white The Tick comic book series in 1988.
The Tick is set to return to TV, with a lead actor cast. https://t.co/ENgdvVWsuo pic.twitter.com/XvikaQeeM9
— GameSpot (@GameSpot) March 24, 2016
In 1994, The Tick universe expanded once again when the Fox network turned it into a Saturday morning cartoon series, written and co-produced by Edlund. The series lasted three seasons. In 1997, Greg Hyland wrote the book The Tick: Mighty Blue Justice! as a tie-in for the original animated series. In 2001, Fox once again tried its hand at gaining viewers who were fans of the superhero spoof by creating the first live-action incarnation of The Tick for the small screen. Though the show was well received, it sadly only lasted for nine episodes before it was cancelled.
Nonetheless, The Tick has become a cult classic, and a favorite among comic book and superhero aficionados, mainly for its absurdist take on the genre and for its comedic sensibilities — a rare sight in a genre filled with moody protagonists, murderous villains, and often depressing, gut-wrenching origin stories.
Spoooooon!
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[Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images]
