The new, international, animated MOOMIN series for television will be completed at the beginning of 2019 and broadcast immediately by Finnish public broadcaster, Yle.
Yle and the production company behind the new adaptation, Gutsy Animations, have signed an agreement according to which Yle will broadcast the first two seasons. Yle also has an option for the following two seasons.
According to the preliminary plan, Moomin and friends will be seen during prime time on Yle in the spring of 2019. The plans include the production of a total of 52 episodes. Yle will be broadcasting the MOOMIN series in both Finnish and Swedish.
“The MOOMIN series is a brand new adaptation of the original Tove and Lars Jansson stories, which are now considered a national treasure. It is an excellent addition to Yle Drama’s family programming, in which animation has traditionally played an important role. The passion that the internationally acclaimed team displays towards the project and the visual style and the sparkling wit and warmth of the stories bring vivid life to Moominvalley and transport the viewers into the world of the Moomins and other characters. The scripts of the series are multi-layered and inventive,” says Jarmo Lampela, Head of Yle Drama.
“We couldn’t be happier that Yle is the first broadcaster to have bought MOOMIN. Tove Jansson is one of Finland’s greatest artists and storytellers and we are hugely excited to bring fans the most faithful screen adaptation of her charming, witty and profound tales to date. Of course we are keen to share our national treasure with the rest of the world too and, as such, are in talks with major networks in the UK, US and Japan, where Moomintroll’s popularity continues to soar. As a Finnish/British collaboration we believe that MOOMIN has an international appeal – particularly in a world where Tove’s philosophy of friendship, tolerance, and personal courage is more important than ever – and this has been proved true by our Indiegogo campaign which has been supported by backers all over the globe,” says Marika Makaroff, CEO of Gutsy Media.