'Clue' Animated Series In The Works At Fox

Grab your candlestick and meet me in the Conservatory, because I have something to tell you: there's a Clue animated series on the way. There aren't many specifics at the moment, but c'mon – it's Clue. You know the drill. A bunch of colorful characters gathers in some sort of mansion, someone gets killed, and everyone is a suspect. Of course, how do you adapt that into a TV show? And an animated show at that? Is this a kids cartoon we're talking, or a more adult-driven show? I mean, the game is about murder, after all. That's not exactly kid-friendly.

Multiple outlets are reporting the news of a Clue animated series, which is in development over at Fox. "'Colonel Mustard...In the Conservatory...With the lead pipe.' By just hearing these colorful phrases alone, you immediately know what they mean — leaving no mystery as to why Clue is one of the most beloved board games-turned-IP of all time. We couldn't be more excited to develop it as an animated series along with eOne and Bento Box," said Michael Thorn, president of entertainment for Fox Entertainment.

Fox is teaming with Hasbro studio eOne and Bento Box Entertainment on the animated series, with Bento Box providing the animation. There are no writers attached to the series yet, and we don't even really know what the show will be, exactly. The animated nature suggests the series will have comedic elements – the same approach that was used for the live-action Clue movie that hit theaters in 1985. You'd never know it today, but that film was actually a pretty big flop. However, the years have been kind to the flick and it's developed a healthy cult following.

Since then, there's been talk of a movie reboot. At one point, Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski was attached to produce and direct. That version never came together. Later, Jason Bateman was announced as director, with Ryan Reynolds starring and Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick tackling the script. Bateman is no longer involved, however, and it's unclear where that film stands right now. In the meantime, we can make do with this animated series.

Clue was created in the UK in the 1940s, where it was first called Murder! before being rebranded as  Cluedo (a play on "clue" and Ludo, ludo being Latin for "I play" and a common British term for the game Parcheesi, as Wikipedia will tell you). Of course, most folks soon realized "Cluedo" was a silly name and started calling it Clue. The object of the game is to determine who murdered the game's victim, where the crime took place, and which weapon was used.