Meet the not-all-that-new, but all-that-different ThunderCats! Image : Warner Bros. Animation ( Cartoon Network )

The ThunderCats are back... but they’re really, really not looking how you’d think they would.




Announced through EW today, Warner Bros. Animation is reviving the beloved 1985 animated series as ThunderCats Roar. Although no format for the new show has been revealed yet, the series will feature a radically different (one might even call it... wacky) style for Lion-O and the gang, as well as an increased focus on comedic elements alongside the action fare that endeared kids of the ‘80s to the original series. Check out a new behind-the-scenes featurette from the show to see a bit more of it in action:

The series will star Persona 5's Max Mittelman as Lion-O (and Wilykat!), which the main cast rounded out with Erica Lindbeck as Cheetara and Wilykit, Patrick Seitz as Tygra and Mumm-Ra, and Chris Jai Alex as Panthro. But even with the comedy influence and the major style change, it looks like Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network are doing their best to assure that fans of the original series know there’s still going to be plenty of ThunderCats trappings:

Staying true to the premise of the original series, Lion-O and the ThunderCats — Tygra, Panthro, Cheetara, Wilykat, and Wilykit — barely escape the sudden destruction of their home world, Thundera, only to crash land on the mysterious and exotic planet of Third Earth. Lion-O, the newly appointed Lord of the ThunderCats, attempts to lead the team as they make this planet their new home. A bizarre host of creatures and villains stand in their way, including the evil Mumm-Ra, Third Earth’s wicked ruler who will let nothing, including the ThunderCats, stop his tyrannical reign over the planet.


ThunderCats Roar will air on Cartoon Network in 2019.