The newly released television reboot of R.L. Stine’s classic horror book series Goosebumps, which has spawned various film and series adaptations, gave the franchise a rework by making it spookier than longtime fans may remember. However, despite the changes, the show’s producers revealed they had the original creator’s blessing and even helped them during production.
Based on Stine’s novel series of the same name, Goosebumps follows five high schoolers as they “embark on a shadowy and twisted journey to investigate the tragic passing three decades earlier of a teen named Harold Biddle, while also unearthing dark secrets from their parents’ past.”
Stine Is Thrilled With the Direction the Producers Took
Producers Conor Welch and Pavun Shetty, in an interview with Forbes, shared that they wouldn’t have successfully created the series reboot without Stine’s blessing and involvement.
“He watched the cuts and read some of the scripts, and really, the most exciting part of the whole process, for me, was after he saw the rough cut of the pilot, and wrote a very congratulatory email sort of saying that he was thrilled with the direction that we took it,” said Welch.
On the other hand, according to Shetty, Stine giving his blessing was the “most important thing” during the show’s development. “We wouldn’t have done the show had R.L. Stine not given us his blessing because that’s the most important thing. He created one of the most popular book series of all time. And this IP, is just beloved. And so there’s a lot of people who read the books growing up. And it really holds a special place with them, including Conor and I, [who] grew up reading the books too.”
Welch continued, “He was always sort of the North Star and was nice enough to kind of meet with us at the beginning of the process. And sort of his [opinion was] that it should always feel a little bit scarier and a little bit funnier than the reader or the audience expects and that it never talked down to its readers.”
Goosebumps stars Justin Long as Nathan Bratt, a teacher who carries a connection tied to a murder that occurred a few years ago. The actor has starred in a variety of terrifying flicks, including Jeepers Creepers, Drag Me to Hell, Tusk, and Barbarian.
The younger cast includes Miles McKenna as James, Will Price as Lucas, Ana Yi Puig as Isabella, Isa Briones as Margot, and Zack Morris as Isaiah.
New episodes of Goosebumps air Fridays on Disney+ and Hulu.
