Netflix Is Developing TV Spin-Offs Of Wednesday, Extraction, And Peaky Blinders
Netflix seems to be making the same mistake every big studio does — jumping the gun to launching big franchises and cinematic universes out of untested hits.
According to Bloomberg, the streamer is already developing a spin-off of "Wednesday," this time focused on Fred Armisen's Uncle Fester. This news comes before production even begins on "Wednesday" season 2. Granted, as Guillermo del Toro has sadly taught us all, just because something is said to be in development doesn't mean it will get to see the light of day. Still, the Bloomberg report says Netflix is "eager to establish a pipeline of 'Addams Family' programs to build off the success of 'Wednesday.'" This means that if this one doesn't work, they still have other ones to try out, as the streamer apparently wants to Dark Universe "The Addams Family."
That's not all. Netflix is reportedly also looking at expanding the world of Chris Hemsworth's "Extraction" movies with a TV show. More surprisingly, "Peaky Blinders" is also a part of the report, with Netflix hoping to turn this into a franchise for some reason. The proposed TV spin-offs of "Peaky Blinders" include a show focusing on Shelby clan matriarch Polly (which would require a recast, since actress Helen McRory died in 2021), and another set in Boston in the middle of the 20th century, decades after the original series. Because this very Irish and British show just screams "America." This is in addition to the "Peaky Blinders" movie in the works, with Steven Knight returning to helm the film.
Arguably the biggest and weirdest Netflix news came during the weekend and out of Japan. It was announced that the streamer is set to distribute a remake of "One Piece." Yes, another one. This time it will be animated, just like the still-very-much-ongoing "One Piece" anime.
Set sail! (Again)
At the annual manga and anime convention Jump Festa, it was announced that WIT Studio, the anime studio behind "Vinland Saga," "Ranking of Kings," and early "Attack on Titan" is working on a remake of "One Piece" for Netflix. Titled "The One Piece" (because apparently no one at Toei or Netflix listened to Justin Timberlake in "The Social Network") the anime is set to remake the series starting from the East Blue Saga with completely new animation.
Now, there is reason to be excited about this. "One Piece," especially early "One Piece," is not exactly the pinnacle of visual storytelling. Suffering from a weekly broadcast schedule, the show now looks very, very dated, and its pacing is notoriously bad — to the point where a lot of fans specify the manga when recommending "One Piece." Having WIT Studio, which has made some of the best anime of the past decade, tackle this promises a better-looking show that more accurately captures what makes the manga one of the best pieces of fiction from the past century.
And ultimately that's all that matters: that it will be easier to recommend "The One Piece" remake to new fans than the original. Viewers will undoubtedly be more inclined to watch this new show than a 25-year-old anime with extremely '90s visuals and pacing. Just like the "One Piece" live-action show's biggest accomplishment is simply to get new people hooked on Eiichiro Oda's masterpiece, "The One Piece" has the potential to bring in millions of new fans.
The One Piece is (still) real
The problem is that this is not coming a decade after the original anime ended like "Hunter x Hunter," or even a handful of years after like "Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood." Instead, the announcement for "The One Piece" comes while the original anime and manga are not only still ongoing but arguably at the peak of their popularity. To have yet another "One Piece" anime will not diminish the original given that it has a head start of over 1000 episodes that cannot be reached any time soon by the remake, but it means that the remake can't be seen as anything but a gimmick and a novelty while the original is still on the air.
At the end of the day, however, "The One Piece" remake suffers from the same problem that the proposed "Wednesday," "Extraction," and "Peaky Blinders" TV spin-offs do — they are Netflix productions. As we've seen in recent years, the time of Netflix as the place where TV goes to be reborn is over. The times when a show getting a second season was guaranteed are more than over. Instead, Netflix has mercilessly axed any show that doesn't perform as expected within a limited timeframe — no matter how seemingly beloved or how big the investment. Sure, "The One Piece" literally exists because the "One Piece" live-action show was apparently a big hit, but what if season 2 isn't as big? Will Netflix still bet on an anime remake of a story arc already told four times before? We'll have to wait and see.