Nickelodeon Unveils its Largest Animation Slate Ever

Nickelodeon revealed details of its all-new content slate for 2021-22 during The Nickelodeon Virtual Upfront Show: Bring Your Kids!, including franchise extensions and a bevy of animation highlights.

“We’re applying our commitment to creating relatable characters and content to our upfront presentation so our partners can experience Nickelodeon exactly the way kids do, with surprise, humor and relevance,” said Brian Robbins, president of ViacomCBS Kids & Family. “The fragmentation across linear only accelerated these past 12 months, so this year’s format literally illustrates our strategy to marshal our global franchises, co-viewing strengths and our new content slate across all available platforms.”

Nickelodeon has doubled down on original animation, putting over 50 projects in development across series, the studio business and theatricals. This season’s lineup features 15 new preschool and kids’ series, including the all-new ZJ Sparkleton, a buddy comedy featuring a quirky 10-year-old vlogger Ruby and her space alien best friend ZJ Sparkleton, and The Hamster Show, a preschool series that follows a motley crew of hamsters who are the heroic protectors of their 8-year-old owner Harry.

Nick picked up an additional 13 episodes of Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years, the first-ever SpongeBob SquarePants spin-off, bringing the total season one order to 26. The second SpongeBob spin-off, The Patrick Star Show, premieres in July 2021.

Also on the slate is the reimagining of Nick’s iconic ’90s hit Rugrats, premiering spring 2021 on Paramount+, followed by a later premiere on Nickelodeon. Middlemost Post, a 2D-animated series that follows Parker, a former rain cloud; Angus, a brawny mailman; and Russell, their magical pet walrus, as they deliver packages to the unusual inhabitants of Mount Middlemost. Big Nate is based on the best-selling children’s books, written and drawn by acclaimed author and cartoonist Lincoln Peirce. The Smurfs has a brand-new original CG-animated TV series coming this fall.

An expansion of the Star Trek Universe, the new CG-animated series Star Trek: Prodigy follows a motley crew of young aliens who must figure out how to work together while navigating a greater galaxy, in search of a better future.

Mattel and Nickelodeon are producing a brand-new animated series based on Monster High, the iconic franchise about the children of famous monsters and creatures.

Based on Hasbro’s iconic global property, a new Transformers series premieres in 2022 on Nickelodeon.

Nickelodeon and Point Grey Pictures’ (Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver) are in production on an all-new CG-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theatrical movie, planned for 2023.

Nickelodeon Animation Studio’s new division Avatar Studios will create original content spanning animated series and movies based on the beloved world of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra.

In the way of preschool, Baby Shark’s Big Show! premieres next week, while PAW Patrol: The Movie is set for theaters this fall. Coming in 2022, The Tiny Chef Show (working title) features the herbivore social media sensation.

Nickelodeon is also doubling down on its preschool slate with renewals of top hits from its portfolio: Santiago of the Seas for a second season (26 episodes); Blue’s Clues & You! for a fourth season (26 episodes); and PAW Patrol for season nine (26 episodes).

In regard to live action, Nickelodeon is working with talent ranging from Will Packer, Tyler Perry and Mike Mitchell behind the camera, to JoJo Siwa debuting in her first feature-length film. Drama Club is a mockumentary-style comedy that follows a group of middle schoolers as they shine a light on the inner workings of their school’s overlooked drama club. The Barbarian and the Troll is a live-action puppet comedy series that follows Evan, a bridge troll in search of adventure, and Brendar, a fierce female warrior on a quest to defeat the evil demon who has imprisoned her brother.

Nickelodeon Studios and Awesomeness have started production on a new series based on the iconic iCarly. The J Team, starring and executive produced by pop star and social media sensation JoJo Siwa, is a 90-minute feature-length film from Awesomeness and Nick’s Live-Action Film Studio.

New to the roster, That Girl Lay Lay (working title) features teen sensation and hip-hop artist Alaya “That Girl Lay Lay” High in a comedy series as Lay Lay, an avatar from a personal affirmation app that magically comes to life. Warped! is a buddy comedy, from co-creators Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert (All That, Good Burger), that follows Milo, the beloved head geek at popular comic book shop Warped!, who forms an unlikely alliance with his new quirky and excitable co-worker Ruby to create the world’s greatest graphic novel.

There’s also The Loud House: A Very Loud Christmas! live-action TV movie and a Monster High live-action TV movie.

In an expansion of its hit live-action lineup, Nickelodeon also renewed Danger Force for a second season (26 episodes) and Tyler Perry’s Young Dylan for season two (20 episodes). The network has also ordered six additional episodes of buddy comedy Side Hustle, bringing the first season to 26 total episodes.