Clue, Hasbro’s popular mystery board game, is getting adapted as an animated series for Fox. The project is in development at Fox Entertainment as part of a collaboration with Hasbro’s content studio, Entertainment One, and Fox’s Bento Box Entertainment. Story details haven’t been revealed, but the goal is that the animated series will be “encapsulating the thrilling and suspenseful dynamics that have made Clue a global sensation for more than seven decades.”
“‘Colonel Mustard…In the Conservatory…With the lead pipe.’ By just hearing these colorful phrases alone, you immediately know what they mean – leaving no mystery as to why Clue is one of the most beloved board games-turned-IP of all time,” Michael Thorn, President of Entertainment of Fox Entertainment, said in a statement. “We couldn’t be more excited to develop it as an animated series along with eOne and Bento Box.”
Pancho Mansfield, eOne’s President of Global Scripted Programming, adds: “We’re thrilled to team up once again with our great partners at Fox and also work with Bento Box on this exciting new series. Clue is an iconic whodunit property that exudes mystery and intrigue, and has fans all over the world. We can’t wait to share our reimagined animated version with audiences.”
Clue, also known as Cluedo outside of the United States, has been around in family homes since 1949. In the game, players must traverse the rooms of a mansion looking for clues to determine who killed Mr. Boddy, which weapon was used, and where the crime took place. The first player to correctly identify all three is named as the winner of the game. The standard version of Clue consists of six playable characters, all of whom also serve as suspects: Colonel Mustard, Miss Scarlett, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, Professor Plum, and Mrs. White.
In 1985, Tim Curry starred in the first live-action movie adaptation of Clue in a movie written and directed by Jonathan Lynn. Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, and Eileen Brennan also starred. Giving a nod to the nature of the board game, the movie consisted of three alternate endings with different versions of the film delivered to different theaters. While the movie fell short at the box office, it has developed a strong cult following in the years since with many fans of Curry pointing to Clue as one of his best performances.
More recently, there have been rumblings of a new Clue movie in the works. Fox announced in 2018 that Ryan Reynolds would star in a live-action Clue remake with Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick penning the screenplay. It was later reported that Jason Bateman was in talks to star alongside Reynolds and direct the movie, but he ultimately left the project. The last update we’ve gotten on the project was word that Dora and the Lost City of Gold helmer James Bobin was in talks to direct the long-gestating movie.
It’s still unclear when the new animated series adaptation of Clue will arrive on Fox, nor do we yet know if it was Professor Plum in the Library with the Candlestick. Hopefully, we’ll find out soon enough. This news comes to us from Deadline.