DreamWorks Animation Options Graphic Novel ‘Cow Boy’ for TV

DreamWorks Animation continues to expand its TV output (via its programming deal with Netflix) by taking advantage of a major film/TV deal between a comic book company and their current distribution partner.

Courtesy of Comic Book Resources (and stemming from The Wrap), DreamWorks Television has optioned the rights to the Boom! Studios/Archaia graphic novel series Cow Boy for television.

Brendan Hay, a noted writer for Robot Chicken and The Mighty B and the soon-to-be showrunner on DWA/Netflix’s The Croods TV series, will write and executive produce the animated series. DreamWorks exec Ben Cawood was credited with bringing the project to the studio. Boom! Studios’ Head of Development Stephen Christy and Chief Executive Officer Ross Richie will be involved as executive producers (according to insiders familiar with the project).

Described as a comedic western with the visual styling of Calvin and Hobbes, Cow Boy revolves around Boyd Linney, a 10-year-old bounty hunter and the only good member of his outlaw family (whom he’s determined to bring to justice).

Written by Nate Cosby and illustrated by Chris Eliopoulus, the graphic novels were first published in 2012 by Archaia Entertainment (the graphic novel imprint of BOOM! Studios) and were the subject of rave reviews and a 2013 Eisner Award nomination in the Best Publication for Kids category.

While this hasn’t yet been specified, it’s more than likely that Cow Boy could end up on Netflix.

It’s also highly probable that this option came about as a result of a first-look deal between BOOM! Studios and 20th Century Fox TV (an extension of the film deal between BOOM! and Fox). Under this arrangement, Fox TV has access to the library of original properties throughout all four BOOM! imprints (The main BOOM! line, millennial-oriented BOOM! Box, kid imprint KaBOOM!, and Archaia), which they can develop for network and cable outlets. As DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox are distribution partners, it’s possible this connection is what may have led to Cow Boy finding a home with DreamWorks Television.

The cover to the promotional package we did when shopping Cow Boy around.

A photo posted by Chris Eliopoulos (@chriseliopoulos) on Jun 8, 2015 at 5:47pm PDT

In any case, it looks to be a promising addition to DreamWorks’ growing TV slate. Cow Boy is the second series not based on an existing film property from DreamWorks Animation (the first being Dinotrux), and it plays within a genre that isn’t explored very much in animation as a whole (Rango is the only major instance of a true-blue animated Western).

I should also point out that Brendan Hay himself is a longtime comic book fan and has also written comics and graphic novels for several comic book companies (including BOOM!), so a project like this should be familiar territory.

We’ll keep you updated as we receive more updates on Cow Boy. For those interested, check out the first four chapters of Cow Boy here.

Do you have any thoughts on this news? Are you interested in Cow Boy?

Edited by: Hannah Wilkes