The New Legends of Monkey Picked Up by CBBC

The children’s channel CBBC in the U.K. has acquired both seasons of the See-Saw Films-produced The New Legends of Monkey, distributed by Serious Lunch.

Inspired by the novel Journey to the West by Wu Ch’eng-En, The New Legends of Monkey is a fantasy-adventure series that follows the quest of a young woman to restore peace to the world and defeat the demons by reawakening the Monkey King and two other faded gods. The first season of the series is set to launch on CBBC in early 2021.

Netflix, ABC and TVNZ ordered an initial ten episodes of The New Legends of Monkey, which were released in 2018. Netflix and TVNZ subsequently committed to a second season that premiered in 2020. Serious Lunch oversees the worldwide distribution of all 20 episodes and has also placed the series with RTP Portugal and TVP Poland.

Genevieve Dexter, CEO of Serious Lunch, said: “The original Monkey series was huge in the U.K. on BBC, and in Australia and New Zealand in the ’70s and ’80s and The New Legends of Monkey delivers the same level of action with an extra dose of comedy, diversity and a gender twist that we hope will repeat that success.”

Rachel Gardner of See-Saw Films said: “We wanted to tell a fantasy story with action, adventure and comedy that also tells kids it’s okay to be different, and that teamwork and friendship can change the world as long as you are true to yourself. We are so excited to bring the show to a new audience with CBBC.”