Picture: Penguin Randomhouse UK
We recently surpassed the fifth anniversary of Netflix’s announcement that it would adapt the popular Redwall franchise. It’s a sad day for the fans of Matthias, Martin the Warrior, Log-a-Log, Constance, and all the inhabitants of Mossflower Wood, though, as Netflix has officially abandoned its highly anticipated adaptation of Brian Jacques’ beloved Redwall book series.
That’s according to a new report from Broadcast Now, which confirmed Netflix is no longer developing any projects based on Jacques’ seminal children’s works, effectively killing the animated universe first announced to massive fanfare back in 2021.
If you cast your mind back to that original announcement, it was a massive coup for the streaming giant. For the first time ever, the adaptation rights to all 22 books in the series were held by the same company, with Netflix striking a major deal with Penguin Random House to build out a massive cinematic universe of films and event series.
At the time of the announcement, Horslen, Fiction Publisher, Penguin Random House said, “We couldn’t be more delighted to announce this deal. These perennially popular stories have been etched onto the hearts of millions of readers, and we are thrilled to partner with Netflix to bring those beloved characters on screen for families worldwide to enjoy.”
Big news! The creator of Over The Garden Wall is working on a Redwall adaptation for Netflix! I’m already preparing myself for the feast scenes. pic.twitter.com/6bie3CwpqI
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) February 10, 2021
So, what exactly happened?
Rumors of trouble behind the scenes have been floating around the animation community for a while. We already knew that Patrick McHale (Over the Garden Wall) was originally tapped to pen a feature film based on the first Redwall book (which is the eighth in the series’ chronology). By the end of 2022, it was revealed that the script had been completed, but he had left the project.
Additionally, Netflix had been prepping a limited event series centered around Martin the Warrior, the legendary co-founder of Redwall Abbey, but that project appears to have suffered the same fate.
When we last reached out to Netflix about the project in early 2025, they confirmed that a project of some description was still in the works. We had also heard of some high-profile creatives being drafted in, but alas, it wasn’t to be. As is often the case with these big sweeping fantasy projects, there are good intentions from the off, but sometimes things linger, and other priorities come in.
According to Broadcast, Netflix held the option on Jacques’ works until as recently as last year, but allowed the deal to lapse. The rights have now officially reverted back to Penguin Random House and The Redwall Abbey Company. Netflix declined to comment on the report.
Some concept art for the movie did find its way online back in June 2025 from artist Bert Youn, which we’ve included a few pieces of below:
The Redwall acquisition was originally part of a massive push by Netflix to lock down iconic children’s literature, happening alongside their 2018 deal for The Chronicles of Narnia, the 2021 acquisition of the Roald Dahl Story Company, and their partnership for an Asterix animated series. Thankfully, the former of those projects will finally come to fruition at the end of 2026, with a live-action movie from Greta Gerwig.
Sadly, we’ll be officially removing Redwall from our massive preview of New Animated Movies Coming to Netflix and Beyond. It’s a massive shame to see an ambitious animated project like this fail to see the light of day, especially one with such a rich, nostalgic world.
Are you disappointed that Netflix isn’t moving forward with Redwall? Let us know in the comments down below.
