HBO Max, Warner Bros. upcoming streaming service, has ordered a two-season reimagining of The Boondocks from creator Aaron McGruder and Sony Pictures Animation. The new animated series will launch in fall 2020 with all 24 episodes and a 50-minute special. As a bonus, all 55 episodes of the original Boondocks series will also be available on the streaming service.
Based on the comic strip by McGruder, the original Boondocks series aired on the company’s Adult Swim from 2005 to 2014. Across its four-season run, the series earned McGruder a Peabody Award.
“The Boondocks was a revolutionary series that sparked conversations on hot button issues and brought dark subjects into the light with episodes like ‘The Trial of Robert Kelly,’ ‘The Fundraiser,’ and ‘The Story of Gangstalicious,’” said Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer, HBO Max and President, TBS, TNT, and truTV. “Aaron is a gifted visionary whose unique style of storytelling is a welcome voice and we are elated The Freemans are making their thugnificent comeback on HBO Max.”
According to the press release, the new Boondocks “follows the adventures of self-proclaimed ‘Civil Rights Legend’ Robert ‘Granddad’ Freeman, and his two rambunctious grandsons Huey and Riley. The family has recently moved to an idyllic community in suburban Maryland only to see it taken over by the tyrannical Uncle Ruckus and his bizarre neo-fascist regime. Life under Ruckus turns out to be an everyday struggle to survive.”
“There’s a unique opportunity to revisit the world of the Boondocks and do it over again for today,” said McGruder, “It’s crazy how different the times we live in are now – both politically and culturally – more than a decade past the original series and two decades past the original newspaper comic. There’s a lot to say and it should be fun.”
Sony Pictures Animation is producing the series in partnership with Sony Pictures Television. McGruder will serve as showrunner and executive producer alongside Norm Aladjem for Mainstay Entertainment, as well as Seung Kim and Meghann Collins Robertson.
