Nick, meet Nate.
Kids’ TV network Nickelodeon announced on Wednesday that it has greenlit 26 episodes of a new animated series based on author/illustrator Lincoln Peirce’s Big Nate children’s books. The show’s premiere date hasn’t been announced.
Big Nate began as a comic strip in 1991, and it relates the adventures of the titular 11-year-old sixth-grader and his friends. Nate often gets in trouble for mischief at school; he also enjoys playing in a band and making his own comics (which appear alongside Peirce’s illustrations of Nate and his pals).
Peirce’s first children’s novel, 2010’s Big Nate: In a Class by Himself, received a positive Kirkus review: “Perfect for fans of Jeff Kinney’s Wimpy Kid. Thank goodness sequels are planned.” Indeed they were: Seven more books in the series were published between 2010 and 2016, including 2011’s Big Nate: On a Roll, which received a Kirkus Star.
The Big Nate comic strip is still running, and Peirce published the first book in a new illustrated children’s-novel series, Max the Midknights, last year.
According to Nickelodeon’s announcement, Peirce will act as a consultant on the new series, which will be executive-produced by Mitch Watson and John Cohen. Watson most recently co-executive-produced the Netflix animated series All Hail King Julien, which serves as a prequel to the Madagascar animated films; he won two Daytime Emmys for the show in 2015 and 2016. Cohen is best known for co-producing the 2016 animated feature The Angry Birds Movie and its 2019 sequel.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
