Hide your wumpa fruit and reinforce all your wooden crates: Crash Bandicoot looks set for an animated return via a brand-new series set to debut on Netflix.
Per What’s on Netflix, WildBrain Studios, the minds behind the well-received and very fun Sonic Prime, is making a Crash Bandicoot adaptation for the streaming giant.
If you’re unfamiliar with Sonic Prime (you shouldn’t be: anyone with a passing interest in the Blue Blur should check it out, because it’s a really nice interpretation of the Sega mascot), perhaps you’ll know some of the other projects the studio has worked on: Carmen Sandiego, Malory Towers, Camp Snoopy, or the Caillou reboot.
If you’re trying to remember any other small-screen interpretations of Crash and coming up short, that’s because the Sony mascot has never had a series to himself before. It looks like WildBrain has managed to snag an iconic debut here, and I’m pretty confident that the Canadian entertainment company has the chops to pull it off.
Let’s hope this venture isn’t as cursed as a previous attempt at bringing Crash to the small screen. Per leaks on Reddit, there were plans for a collaboration between Activision and Amazon to launch an animated Crash show in 2021, which was ultimately cancelled due to script disputes (or so legend has it, at least). We don’t know much about the history of this project, all we know is that a (very cool-looking) animation test was uploaded to Youtube some four years ago. Check it out here.
Crash has leant his big eyes and 90s energy to other media – including a Japan-only manga made by Coro Comics called Crash Bandicoot—Dansu! de Jump! na Daibōken, which followed the events of Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back. He also appears in a series of web shorts that released in 2007 to promote Crash of the Titans.
As for Crash games, the status of the raving marsupial is a little in the air right now. The last few titles (N. Sane Trilogy, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, Crash 4: It’s About Time, Crash Team Rumble) were handled by Toys for Bob, and as of February 2024, the developer has left Activision to go independent. On its departure, the studio did note that it was exploring “a possible partnership between our new studio and Microsoft,” claiming that Microsoft and Activision were “extremely supportive” of the way things were shaking out. We don’t yet know what Toys for Bob is working on, but there has been speculation it’s a new Crash game.
Either way, a 2024 report suggested Crash Bandicoot 5 was cancelled in favour of live-service games, noting that the title would have been a direct sequel to It’s About Time.
