Watership Down Coming to BBC/Netflix With John Boyega and Nicholas Hoult

If you’ve got a kid who likes bunnies and who you’d love to scar emotionally, I’ve got some news for you!

The BBC and Netflix have just announced that they’ll be adapting the 1972 bestselling novel (and stunning animated classic) that seems to be about bunnies, but is really so much more, to the small screen as a new animated seres.

Given that the original animated production was so beautifully illustrated, it’s a little sad to hear that the new mini series will be CG, but the voice cast lets me know that they are not messing around here. So far, the show has cast: James McAvoy (X-Men) as Hazel, Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) as Fiver, Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3) as General Woundwort, John Boyega (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) as Bigwig, Gemma Arterton (Hansel and Gretel) as Clover, Miles Jupp (The Thick of It) as Blackberry, Freddie Fox (Pride) as Captain Holly, Olivia Colman (The Night Manager) as Strawberry, and Anne-Marie Duff (Suffragette) as Hyzenthlay.

Animation for the show will be run by Pete Dodd, who worked on The Fantastic Mr Fox. If the tone is anything like the 1978 film, you are going to want to queue up something very happy to watch immediately afterwards.

Here’s the trailer to the 1978 version:

Set in England’s Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage, and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.