Earthworm Jim Animated Series Will Bring Back The '90s Favorite

Jim was just a dirt-eating length of worm-flesh, but then he became one of the world's weirdest superheroes. '90s kids likely remember Saturday mornings spent bouncing along to the ridiculously catchy theme-song for "Earthworm Jim," a cartoon about an earthworm who becomes a superhero when a hi-tech super-suit falls from the sky. The cartoon was based upon a series of platformer games for Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and other '90s consoles, and it was as weird as you'd expect. 

Unfortunately for fans of the rather creative cartoon, the series' creator, Jim TenNapel, made some horrifically racist and sexist remarks on a podcast in 2020. It seemed as if the future for Jim might be rather grim, but game studio Interplay is bringing him back, without TenNapel involved. 

Variety reports that Interplay Entertainment Corp., which owns the rights to the "Earthworm Jim" games, is making a new animated TV series starring the wiggly hero. The series will follow the adventures of Jim, who started life as a pretty standard earthworm before crawling into a futuristic robotic suit and gaining the ability to walk, talk, and fight the baddies. The "Earthworm Jim" revival will also introduce new characters as they travel throughout the galaxy, where each planet is home to a unique race of anthropomorphic animals. Jim just wants to find his true home: Earth, a planet that people have heard of but no one knows how to find.

Interplay has partnered with APA to make the new "Earthworm Jim" series, along with producer Aaron Billet and the animation studio Passion Pictures, lead by animation producer Marc Bodin-Joyeaux. Writer and director Michel K. Parandi is onboard to help lead the series, likely in the position of showrunner. He shared his excitement about creating new stories for the franchise with Variety:

"I remember loving 'Earthworm Jim' as a kid, and there's so much potential in this story universe: a galaxy full of animals battling for power.  Jim is an earthworm in a universe where Earth is nothing more than a myth. His struggle to find meaning is surreal and comical, but it's also relatable."

The first "Earthworm Jim" game was released on Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo in 1994, with a WB cartoon series that ran for two seasons starting in 1995. In the animated series, Jim was voiced by Dan Castellaneta, best known for voicing Homer Simpson on "The Simpsons."

The "Earthworm Jim" revival is still in development, so stay tuned for more news on casting, a network, and more!