Summary

• The TV series explores the characters' inner conflicts in the Spiderwick Chronicles, providing more depth and exploration.
• The show delves into themes like mental health, anxiety, and inner struggles, resonating with a modern audience.
• The nature of television allows for more storytelling opportunities compared to compressed film adaptations.

The creator and author of The Spiderwick Chronicles explains how the upcoming TV series is different from the movie. Co-written by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, The Spiderwick Chronicles is originally a children’s fantasy book series that began with the novel The Field Guide. A film adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles was released in 2008. Now, a TV series adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles is being released on the Roku Channel.

In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, The Spiderwick Chronicles TV series team discusses how the show is different from the movie. Screen Rant spoke with book author Black and show creator Aron Eli Coleite, who both spoke about the differences between television and film. Black teases more “inner conflict” and delving “even more deeply into Jared.” Coleite went into several specifics about what the show will cover thematically, including “Jared’s mental health issues” and themes that should be relevant and fresh to a 2024 audience. Check out the full quotes from Black and Coleite below:

Black: Well, obviously, television by its very nature opens things up in a way that a film compresses. So, it was really great to get to spend more time with these characters, specifically the villain. We get to see what Mulgarath is up to, what his scheme is. We get to see what his inner conflict is, and that's really, really fun. And we get to spend more time with Simon and Mallory, and really build out their conflicts. We get to spend time with their mom, and all of that stuff, I think, feels really great. And I think we get to dive even more deeply into Jared, and his conflict, and his anger, and how he's processing it.

Coleite: I mean, there's a number of different things. I think the first one is we always intended to age it up, and in aging it up, we could talk about — all the issues that we talked about within the series are in the DNA of the books. And it was one of the things that in rereading the book when I was preparing to do the adaptation, Jared's mental health issues, his anxiety, his depression really came to the forefront, and I wanted to have a venue to be able to talk about it, and not like directly, but also through allegory, and talk about what it means to be perceived as somebody who's monstrous, and what that does.

So in aging it up, it gave us this awesome ability to actually talk about these real issues. And it happened at a point when — my four-year anniversary of being on Spiderwick is a week ago last week — I read it right in the beginning of the pandemic, and I saw what my own kids were going through, how they were struggling with depression. And I thought that this was an amazing story that can actually speak to them and make it okay to have these emotions and destigmatize it.

So, that was one of the major things. And then from there, it was also working really hand-in-hand with Tony and Holly of, "Hey, books are different, movies are different, TV shows are different. We need drive, we need propulsion." So, we also had to change the notion of finding the field guide complete in the attic, which happens in the book and the movie. Then it becomes a different type of show, it becomes about guarding this thing that everybody wants. And that's really difficult to sustain for eight episodes, or seasons long.

So, that led us to the more quest-style storytelling, and hopefully tricking the audience, and especially the diehard Spiderwick fans, that when they see the field guide, they're like, "Oh, my God, there it is. There it is." And it's empty. It also subverts expectations, because one of the things that's really important for us to do is there's a lot of huge Spiderwick fans out there, and they love the books and they love the movie, and I love them too. But we want to give them something still Spiderwick, but a little bit different, so that they even don't know what's going to come around the next corner.

Will The Spiderwick Chronicles TV Series Be More Successful than The Movie?

The Movie Failed To Start A Franchise

There are several revelations present in Black and Coleite’s statements. Coleite’s explanation of the story’s main themes, including emotional storylines that might resonate with those who suffered as a result of the pandemic. If The Spiderwick Chronicles series actualizes the themes that Coleite wishes to cover, it could amount to be a fantastic series. Another important point is the clarification of how involved DiTerlizzi and Black were in the creation of The Spiderwick Chronicles show. The author's buy-in is critical to creating a faithful adaptation.

The Spiderwick Chronicles original adaptation effort, the 2008 film, has a mixed history. While its Tomatometer put the film at an 81% among Rotten Tomatoes critics, audiences were far more mixed on the film. The Spiderwick Chronicles received an audience approval rating of merely 63%. At the box office, the film brought in $164.1 million globally. While a decent sum on its face, this was underwhelming given its estimated $90 million budget. This puts The Spiderwick Chronicles TV series in an interesting position, as its source material is revered but the previous film is not.

Black’s comment that “television by its very nature opens things up in a way that a film compresses” is a promising sign for the series. The movie struggled to create an interesting storyline from a five-book original novel series. The TV series will have a greater opportunity to take its time with the plot. Hopefully, Black pointing out this asset is a good sign for The Spiderwick Chronicles.

The Spiderwick Chronicles will release on the Roku Channel on April 19.