Yesterday saw the unexpected, but not unwelcome announcement that beloved '90s cartoon Animaniacs will be revived on Hulu in 2020.

The show's original executive producer Steven Spielberg, his production company Amblin Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Animation are all back on board for two seasons of what will be Hulu's first original series aimed at families. The deal also sees the original show and its companion series Tiny Toon AdventuresPinky and the Brain and Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain move exclusively to Hulu.  But what, exactly, can viewers expect from a new incarnation of the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister).

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Given that this news just broke, details are understandably scarce. But in the media age of reboots and revivals we live in, it's easy to make some educated guesses regarding the course this new Animaniacs will take. Chiefly, there are four questions to consider:

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Will the Show's Original Cast & Crew Return?

Notably missing from the announcement are the names of any actors, writers or showrunners. But, again, this news just broke so while presumably talks have taken or are taking place for cast members like Rob Paulsen (Yakko) or Tress MacNielle (Dot) and writers like Paul Rugg and original showrunner Tom Reugger (who worked together on the recently concluded Disney series The 7D) to return, it's possible a search is underway for replacements for at least some original series regulars.

The most notable example of a revived show moving forward without the original cast or crew is the current iteration of The Powerpuff Girls. When the new Powerpuff Girlsdebuted last year, it did so without the involvement of original creator Craig McCracken (who was working on his Disney show Wander Over Yonder at the time), any of the original writers or producers and, most controversially, without most of the original voice cast. At the time, Tara Strong, the original Bubbles, compared the recasting as "being stabbed in the heart."

But there's an added wrinkle here. For quite a while now, the Warner siblings themselves -- Paulsen, McNielle and Jess Harnell (Wakko) -- along with original Animaniacs composer Randy Rogel have been touring America performing songs from the original show under the name Animaniacs Live! to sold-out venues and wide acclaim. With their original performances still heavily in people's minds, Hulu and Warner Bros. has to be aware on some level of the backlash they would face should they go the recasting route.

Luckily, we probably don't have to worry. Actor Maurice LaMarche followed up on the news of the series' return with a Tweet where he reprised his role as Orson Welles in order to read the announcement to fans. This, after an earlier tweet in which he stated, "I guess I can talk about this now."

What Will the New Animaniacs Look Like?

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The overriding mandate of Spielberg's production work with WB Animation in the '90s was to recapture the zany gags and equally madcap visuals of the Golden Age of Animation. In Animaniacs' case, that meant paying top dollar for production studios like Tokyo Movie Shinsha (now TMS, who also worked on Batman: The Animated Series) and AKOM to turn in a show that had a higher cel count (that is, more hand-drawn frames of animation per second) than its contemporaries.

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But except for the Don Hertzfeldts or Bill Plymptons of the world, who mostly draw every frame themselves, hand-drawn cel animation is largely a thing of the past. Shows like The Simpsons or Bob's Burgers are drawn by animators working digitally both in America (where the writing and storyboard phases of animated shows often happen) and overseas (where the final, most labor-intensive parts of the animation process take place). Thus, it's not hard to imagine a version of Animaniacs crafted in the vein of Disney XD's current revival of DuckTales or My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic , the latter of which is animated in Flash. Could such a style stay true to the original Animaniacs' Tex Avery-homaging mandate?

It's possible but, until the first promo artwork and video from the reboot is released, there's really no way to know for sure.

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What Will the Show's Sense of Humor Be Like?

The original Animaniacs, as noted earlier, was all about continuing the style of Golden Age Looney Tunes, right down to its jokes. The humor was fast-paced with gags from far back as vaudeville bumping up against references to everything from Prince to Jeopardy. It was anachronistic, to say the least, and downright quaint when compared to what shows like The Simpsons or Ren & Stimpy were doing. In the years since Animaniacs concluded, it's come under criticism from some corners for outdated gender stereotyping. ("Helloooo, Nurse!" probably rings a little creepy now in the age of post-Weinstein Hollywood.)

So will this new version follow in its predecessor's footsteps? Well, some gags ring eternal -- remember, even The Sopranos had fart jokes. But throwing Borscht Belt shtick at modern kids raised on YouTube videos rather than reruns of 70+ year old cartoons may fall on deaf ears.

Animaniacs Prince

More likely, the new Animaniacs will hew to the approach other recent WB Animation revivals used. Boomerang's New Looney Tunes (known as Wabbit in its first season) brought back the original characters and their iconic personalities -- Bugs is a wiseacre, Daffy a nutcase, etc. -- but updated the way its sense of humor was portrayed. That is, instead of an anvil falling on Yosemite Sam's head in any given episode, he instead would be blasted into a wall.

The characters themselves could also be updated. See Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (another Boomerang show) which kept most of the Mystery Machine crew the same, but turned Daphne into an eccentric who adopts a new personality trait each episode (communicating solely through hand puppetry, dramatically narrating everything) to great comedic effect. For a better example -- and one that the new Animaniacs would do well to emulate -- there's Disney's Mickey Mouse. The news shorts keep the core selves of Mickey and the rest intact, but with an average of 3-5 minutes per story, twists everything else into whatever's needed for the joke.

As the original Animaniacs had such a distinct voice and style, so too must this revival, both to prove its own worth and as the testing ground for Hulu as a source of new family comedy ala Netflix.

How Mad Will This Make Fans of the Original Series?

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Any reboot, reimagining or revival of a beloved children's property that isn't Power Rangers or Doctor Who will inevitably come up against criticism from devoted fans of the original. Teen Titans Go! is the best example of this. Despite being a very funny show on its own weird, unique terms, it's been attacked ever since its first episode by folks mad it's not the original Teen Titans or Young Justice.

Honestly, though, it's fine for a new version of an old show to have its own identity. Welcome, even. To go back to DuckTales... have you watched the original show lately? Yeah, it's still a lot of fun, but outside of the gorgeous animation, it's kinda stiff. The nine episodes of the new DuckTales  that have aired at this time, though, are more sitcom first, adventure show second, which works brilliantly. A good way to make people like a show or comic or whatever is if it can make them laugh.

If this new Animaniacs can do that above all else, the aesthetics, casting, writing and the rest will all fall into place.


Steven Spielberg’s classic Warner Bros. animated series Animaniacs will return in 2020 with a two-season order from streaming service Hulu. Spielberg will executive produce the series’ revival for Hulu, Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Television.