KiKA to Co-Produce New Smurfs TV Show

KiKA has teamed up with Peyo Productions to co-produce The Smurfs, a new animated television series featuring the iconic blue characters.

KiKA will serve as co-producer and German broadcaster of the CGI show, which is aimed at kids between the ages of 5 and 10. France’s TF1 and Belgium’s Ketnet and OUFtivi are also on board as co-pro partners for the series, which ranked as number seven on the list of the top 30 viewed programs at MIPJunior.

Véronique Culliford, president and founder of Peyo Productions and I.M.P.S., commented: “I’m very happy to once again be able to continue my father’s work by co-producing a new TV series about the Smurfs, almost 40 years after the universally known series. You will discover Smurfs in 3D-CGI, as in the last movie (The Lost Village, 2017), with lots of fun, humor and adventures full of twists. I’m convinced that for this co-production, KiKA is the best player in the market, and that the Smurfs will continue to delight all generations for decades in Germany!”

Astrid Plenk, managing and programming director for KiKA, noted: “The Smurfs are absolutely cult! They are a highlight and an animated classic in the comic and animation culture of the last decades in Europe, and of course well known in Germany. And so I’m really excited to be able to present Die Schlümpfe exclusively to our viewers from 2021 on.”

“It was always my dream to produce a new series of The Smurfs, so I am truly happy to co-produce this animated series together with our partners Peyo Productions, Belgium, the French broadcaster TF1 and the Belgian broadcasters RTBF and Ketnet,” noted Sebastian Debertin, head of fiction, acquisition and co-production at KiKA.

Plenk added: “The Smurfs also stand for strong values and great feelings, and therefore this series will fit perfectly with KiKA. I am particularly delighted that Schlumpfine will, over the course of the new series, get female reinforcement. Everyone—children and parents—can now look forward to a series highlight with many new stories from Schlumpfhausen.”