The Big Picture
-
The Spiderwick Chronicles
premieres April 19 on Roku after being cut from Disney+, bringing beloved fantasy to life. - Christian Slater stars as Mulgarath in the series, hunting for a powerful book while facing off against the Grace children.
- The adaptation expands on the original books by introducing new characters and mysteries, offering a fresh take on the beloved series.
Ahead of its release, The Hollywood Reporter revealed an exclusive clip of the imminent fantasy series, The Spiderwick Chronicles. Originally slated to appear on Disney+, the platform cut the series from the 2024 lineup. In a stroke of luck, The SpiderwickChronicles found a new home at Roku and will premiere on April 19. The series follows the three Grace children, as they find a supernatural world when moving to the titular Spiderwick Estate. And as with any Narnia-adjacent series, there needs to be a larger-than-life villain.
Christian Slater appears in the clip as Mulgarath, who searches for a book known as the Field Guide. The pages detail different types of fantastical creatures, and he is eager to get his hands on them. The only thing standing in his way is the Grace siblings’ great-aunt, Lucinda (Charlayne Woodard), who was supposed to have the location. In the clip, Mulgarath learns that getting the pages won’t be that easy. As Mulgarath drags Lucinda through the woods, he lectures her about leaving to warn the Grace siblings about Mulgarath’s intentions.
“I can’t tell you how or where to get the pages because I don’t know,” Lucinda tells Mulgarath triumphantly. To stop him from obtaining the book, she erased her memory of the Field Guide’s location. As Mulgarath astutely points out, this makes her useless and most likely not long for this world. Theorizing about where the future of the series will go could be difficult, even for book readers, as the series deviates from the novels on which it is based.
What to Expect From ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’
It has not been easy to get to the current adaptation of the beloved children’s series. There was a 2008 feature film adapting the series, but it did not generate enough interest to merit any sequels. Following successes like Percy Jackson and the Olympians, a Spiderwick adaptation would seem like an easy decision for Disney. But the eight-episode season could only find purchase on Roku’s streaming platform.
But that is what makes a series like this exciting. Because the books follow the siblings embarking on small adventures, the series expands on the mythology to tell a more resonant story. The first book revolves around the children enraging a being named Thimbletack, with whom they must make amends. The series thickens up these events by including characters from other books, such as Mulgarath and Lucinda. Though there may be some book purists out there, expanding on the source material is a way to honor it as well as make a compelling series. Viewers can explore the mysteries of Spiderwick themselves when the series airs on The Roku Channel on April 19. Watch the clip below:
The Spiderwick Chronicles (2024)
Follows the Grace family as they move from Brooklyn, New York, to their ancestral home in Henson, Michigan, the Spiderwick Estate.
- Release Date
- April 19, 2024
- Cast
- Christian Slater , Lyon Daniels , Noah Cottrell , Joy Bryant , Mychala Lee , Jack Dylan Grazer
- Streaming Service(s)
- The Roku Channel
