Warner Bros. Animation is resurrecting the tormented vampire Barnabas Collins, with the studio announcing on Friday that it is developing an adult animated series based on the cult classic soap opera “Dark Shadows.”

Jonathan Frid

Created by Dan Curtis and celebrating its 60th anniversary this summer, the series, which ran from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971, on ABC, starred Jonathan Frid as TV’s original anti-hero and the father of the modern-day vampire story, featuring alluring tales of gothic mystery and supernatural intrigue.

The animated project was announced during a Studio Focus panel at the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival as Warner Bros. Animation’s Peter Girardi (Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming) and Shaleen Desai (Senior Vice President, Adult Series) previewed the studio’s current adult animation slate.

According to a logline, the adaptation is an Adult animated series continuing the saga of the Collins family. Blending gothic, horror, and supernatural genres, the upcoming adaptation promises all the dark twists and romantic intrigue that defined the transformative series across its original 1,200-plus-episode run.

Lisa Holdsworth will serve as executive producer and showrunner, with executive producers Cathy Curtis, Tracy Curtis, Eric Homan, Kevin Kolde and Fred Seibert.

The animated TV series adaptation comes more than 14 years after studio sibling Warner Bros. Pictures last attempted to revive the series, albeit as a live-action feature film starring Johnny Depp as the iconic vampire with a conscience, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard and Helena Bonham Carter as the live-in psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman, whom Elizabeth calls upon to help with her family troubles.

You can check out the film’s trailer below.

Note: The post Warner Bros. Animation Announces Development On ‘Dark Shadows’ Adaptation Based On Cult-Classic Soap Opera first appeared on Soap Opera Network.

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How many more times are they going to attempt to revive Dark Shadows? I mean, maybe an animated series could work in a long-term format; however, I do feel like the IP should be left to rest at this point. After the main soap (1966–1971) and the two feature films in 1970 and 1971, there was the 1991 primetime series (which was not half bad), a failed 2004 primetime series for the WB (starring Jessica Chastain), and then the Tim Burton film (which could have done more had Burton/Warner Bros. Pictures gone that direction).

Throwing up the @Vee signal!

IMO, the franchise could work for a reboot, but I was hoping for a live action one.

4 hours ago, Khan said:

Throwing up the @Vee signal!

I mean I'm for it, but I think a live action is a better option. We should also let @DRW50 know.

The fact that it's described as an adult animation series gives me hope it'll be good, but I have no history with the people behind rebooting the show so I'll just have to wait and see. It does feel random as hell though, but good to know someone wants the show to continue its legacy for further generations.

26 minutes ago, Bright Eyes said:

The fact that it's described as an adult animation series gives me hope it'll be good, but I have no history with the people behind rebooting the show so I'll just have to wait and see. It does feel random as hell though, but good to know someone wants the show to continue its legacy for further generations.

Two of the producers are the daughters of Dan Curtis so hopefully they'll approach this with the respect for their father's legacy and not to crap all over it.

I honestly love how it takes a licking and keeps on ticking. But I'm very late to the party since it was the last 90s reboot that got me to discover this fascinating world.

6 hours ago, Liberty City said:

How many more times are they going to attempt to revive Dark Shadows? I mean, maybe an animated series could work in a long-term format; however, I do feel like the IP should be left to rest at this point. After the main soap (1966–1971) and the two feature films in 1970 and 1971, there was the 1991 primetime series (which was not half bad), a failed 2004 primetime series for the WB (starring Jessica Chastain), and then the Tim Burton film (which could have done more had Burton/Warner Bros. Pictures gone that direction).

The IP has been left to rest for over a decade. Dark Shadows isn't exactly a cultural phenomenon these days but is easily available on multiple platforms, seemingly does well there, and the core of the show (Barnabas the tediously noble vampire and the spooky Collinwood estate) has ready-made appeal. I am not very interested in an animated version but I think the idea could work in the right hands, possibly more than live-action.

There was also a comic book which ran for a number of years, so it has a record of appealing in other forms.

(I just hope if it happens they don't blow the bank on celebrity voice actors - the only one I might be interested in is Michelle Pfeiffer as she recently said she wished she could have been on the original show [I don't even know if she does animation and I'm sure she is busy elsewhere, but it would still make me smile])

2 hours ago, Vee said:

I mean I'm for it, but I think a live action is a better option. We should also let @DRW50 know.

Thanks for tagging me. I hope it works out, even if as said above I too will always want live action more. Unfortunately with budgets these days and some of the live action misfires I guess they are wary.

Michelle Pfeffer wishes she could've been on the original series? That's wild.

3 hours ago, Vee said:

I mean I'm for it, but I think a live action is a better option.

IDK why - because I'm sure the people involved will know better than to let it happen - but something about the project feels a little too "Scooby-Doo Meets Barnabas Collins" to me.

4 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

(I just hope if it happens they don't blow the bank on celebrity voice actors - the only one I might be interested in is Michelle Pfeiffer as she recently said she wished she could have been on the original show [I don't even know if she does animation and I'm sure she is busy elsewhere, but it would still make me smile])

Plus, she always maintained she wanted to do a second film. And she's done voice work in the films The Prince of Egypt and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, so I am sure if asked, she would sign on for this.

20 minutes ago, Khan said:

Michelle Pfeffer wishes she could've been on the original series? That's wild.

Yes. That was a nice surprise to read (maybe she had already said it before - I didn't follow the press for the film and I know some like Helena Botham Carter said one thing and meant another).

https://variety.com/2026/tv/awards/michelle-pfeiffer-tv-the-madison-margos-david-e-kelley-1236761943/

I’m very interested in an animated DS! After I finish Mary Hartman, I plan to give it a full rewatch from beginning to end, so if this happens, I’ll have even more of an appreciation for it.

To me, the Dark Shadows fandom is not very hard to please. The Depp movie was garbage, but it feels like any other attempt at continuing/rebooting the series has been mostly supported or at the very least not completely trashed. Reel in new viewers with the story and classic DS ambience, and it could be something.

3 hours ago, DRW50 said:

here was also a comic book which ran for a number of years, so it has a record of appealing in other forms.

Beautifully painted from what I remember (along with NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET at the time). It's a shame the company went belly up.

I'm all for this. The people on the Facebook groups are horrified. But I think it... could be good? Granted the showrunner apparently is the woman who did Discovery of Witches which I mildly enjoyed but just kinda dropped by the last season (I just stopped looking for it and plans to catch up have never happened.) But I love when animation is used to tell dramatic, serialized stories, being a big fan of the more soap opera style anime classics like Rose of Versailles and Dear Brother (even this year's surprisingly deep discovery A Witches Journal, an exploration of what family is and grief in modern Japan that has nothing to do with Witches.) So I'm always eager to see that carried over to Western animation (the best we have right now is probably X-Men '97.)

I do hope they dive into the soapy aspects and the fact that they have hired the showrunner of Discovery of Witches makes me think they might? And we don't get a superhero version like the comic books. Speaking of...

The DS comic books had some decent art but I think were a mess story wise. However, I'm thrilled with the new complete collection of the newspaper comic strip, with art by the great Ken Bald. Its writer is uncredited but I'm pretty sure it was written by Elliot Caplin, who was Al Capp's brother (and apparently a much nicer guy.) I'm a big fan of the old soap opera comic strips and Caplin co-created one of the very best, The Heart of Juliet Jones (which had stunning art by Stan Drake) which I actually just finished a complete re-read of (the final decade--the 1990s--are a mess, as Drake had retired from it and Caplin's stories become disconnected and bizarre and I don't even know what newspapers covered it.) Juliet Jones actually had a soap opera pilot in the 1950s that you can find on Youtube. But Caplin wrote DOZENS of strips (including the short lived but surprisingly edgy 1950s OTHER soap opera comic he did, Adam Aames) the boxing soap Big Ben Bolt, taking over some of his brother's non Lil Abner comics, etc, etc. And he never took credit. (I could go on and on about the fascinating parallels between the soap opera comic strips and the TV soaps during each era, but I'll save that for some time I really want to bore everyone here.)

So yeah, I recommend the comic strip collection over the comic books. The only issue, and it's a big one, is they were only allowed to use a small handful of characters (so no Quentin, my fave, though it seems if it had continued he might have appeared.)