In what's easily the most unexpected television news of the day -- heck, the week -- Fox has confirmed that it's developing an animated series based on the 2004 independent film Napoleon Dynamite.

FishbowlLA reports that most of the cast will return, with Jon Heder (Napoleon), Efran Ramirez (Pedro), Aaron Ruell (Kip) and Jon Gries (Uncle Rico) voicing the characters they portrayed in the cult hit. In addition, Jared and Jerusha Hess, who wrote and directed the movie, are "closely involved" with the project, which is in the pilot phase.

Fishbowl's Alex Weprin speculates that, if picked up by Fox, Napoleon likely would join its Sunday night animated block. To make room in the lineup, the network probably would have to cancel American Dad, which certainly isn't a bad thing.

Napoleon Dynamite debuted in 2004 at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to gross $46 million on an estimated budget of $400,000.