Director Joe Dante and GREMLINS Series Producers Talk About Whether or Not They'd Like to See Gizmo Return in Live-Action

Gremlins (1984) is one of the great movies of the ‘80s. It was a huge hit that resonated with fans, spurring tons of merchandise, and remaining a favorite among those who watched it when they were young. We got a sequel in 1990 titled Gremlins 2: The New Batch, and it was not as good as the original, but was still fun.

Now fans have an animated series produced by the original director (Joe Dante) that continues to deepen the lore of the Gremlins. The show began in 2022 and the first season was titled Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai. The second season, which kicked off at the beginning of this month, is titled Gremlins: The Wild Batch. There have always been rumors about a third film, but maybe this series will just continue to tell all the untold stories.

When asked by CinemaBlend if they’d like to see the series continue, or if they’d prefer to return to live-action to further the mythology, the show’s producers had some fun answers. Brendan Hay said:

“For myself, and this is partially selfish, no, just because I do think there's so much more you can do in animation versus live action. Like, Joe [Dante] has detailed just how difficult the puppets were. Like there was just the restriction of technology here. We absolutely still have restrictions. There's still pencil mileage, there’s still just still trying not to break your artist and your crew. But, there's just a lot more you can do. Like we can be a lot freer and broader with the types of gags we're trying to pitch for evil Mogwai, there's a lot more than acting that you can actually rest on Gizmo’s very tiny, barely existent shoulders because you can get it across in animation.”

Executive producer and showrunner Tze Chun had another perspective on the whole thing. He said:

“I'm down for whatever. Whatever Gremlin stuff we can get, whether we create it or not. And, you know, Warner Bros. had four different Batmans at one time. Let's do everything!”

Hay then agreed that “the idea of competing Gizmos” was a fun idea. Joe Dante chipped in, with this classic idea:

“Gizmo meets Batman, I can see it.”

Honestly, I don’t hate it! What would you like to see for the future of Gizmo and the other Gremlins?