Zombies: The Re-Animated Series


Zombies: The Re-Animated Series is an American animated musical television series based on the Disney franchise Zombies. It is produced by Disney Television Animation and animated by Atomic Cartoons. The show brings back most of the original cast from the first three films. Zombies: The Re-Animated Series premiered on June 28, 2024, on Disney Channel, and concluded on December 7, 2024.
A second season was originally in development and cut in half, before being stopped in June 2025 following the show's cancellation.
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Premise

Taking place after Zombies 3 and before Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires, following graduation day at Seabrook High School, A-Spen does a time warp that enables everyone to re-do senior year together as they engage in various misadventures in Seabrook.

Characters

Main

  • Addison Wells – The head cheerleader, who is a human/alien hybrid.
  • Zed Necrodopolis – A zombie and star football player who is Addison's boyfriend.
  • Wynter Barkowitz – An overeager werewolf.
  • Willa Lykensen – A werewolf who is the leader of her group.
  • Wyatt Lykensen – A werewolf who is Willa's brother and Eliza's love interest.
  • Bree – A human cheerleader who is Addison's best friend.
  • Bucky Buchanan – Addison's self-absorbed human cousin and the former head cheerleader.
  • Bonzo – A zombie who is Zed's friend and Bree's love interest. He can only speak zombie language, which the other characters understand.
  • Eliza Zambi – A genius zombie and friend of Zed, who is dating Wyatt.
  • A-Spen – An alien who enabled the time warp to happen so that everyone could re-do their senior year.

Others

  • Principal Lee – The human principal of Seabrook High School.
  • Coach – The unnamed human gym teacher and football coach of Seabrook High School.
  • Razzy – A demon cat that was adopted by the coach.
  • Dae – A witch who is a new student at Seabrook High School.
  • * Bartleby – Dae's armadillo familiar.
  • *Ashley – Dae's aunt.
  • Zoey Necrodopolis – A zombie who is Zed's younger sister.
  • Motherboard – The A.I. of the aliens' UFO. It was previously voiced by RuPaul in Zombies 3.
  • Sasquatch – A sasquatch that lives near Seabrook whose kind have been old enemies of the werewolves.

Production

Development

In 2022, Descendants: Wicked World creator Aliki Theofilopoulos, and Amphibia story editor Jack Ferraiolo were approached by Disney executives to develop an animated series based on Disney Channel's Zombies franchise, which they agreed to do due to the franchise's high school setting providing multiple storytelling opportunities, having liked the Zombie films, and wanting to work together on a project.
On June 15, 2022, during the Annecy Film Festival, Disney Television Animation announced development on animated series based on the Zombies franchise, titled Zombies: The Re-Animated Series, on Disney+. Writers Joseph Raso and David Light were set to return from the original trilogy as executive producers, alongside Gary Marsh, Theofilopoulos, and Ferraiolo. Theofilopoulos and Ferraiolo also serve as showrunners for the series.

Writing

The producers wanted to use the series' animated format as " opportunity to push ideas conceptually and visually" within the franchise. They also wanted the show to have a strong focus on its ensemble cast, drawing inspiration from shows such as New Girl and Freaks and Geeks, as well as teen comedies Ferraiolo watched in his youth, wanting to "juxtapose dumb ideas with achieving a goal" much like in the latter. The writers wanted the series to explore issues relatable to teenagers and "blow it out of proportion" while keeping the story grounded in "the emotional truth of being a teenager".

Casting

On August 12, 2022, Meg Donnelly and Milo Manheim were confirmed to be reprising their roles as Addison and Zed from the original trilogy. On November 18, 2022, Theofilopoulos confirmed that Carla Jeffery would reprise her role as Bree in the series. Voice recordings for the series had already began by that point. In June 2023, Ariel Martin, Chandler Kinney, Pearce Joza, Trevor Tordjman, Jonathan Langdon, James Godfrey, Kylee Russell, and Terry Hu were confirmed to be reprising their roles in the series. In May 2024, it was announced that Kahyun Kim would be voicing a new character named Dae.

Animation

Animation services are provided by Atomic Cartoons. Matt Doering serves as art director for the series. The artists designed the characters so that they could be reminiscent of their appearance in the movies while also fitting an animated format.

Music

The series features a musical number per episode, performed by its voice cast. Several songwriters from the films returned to work on the series. Theofilopoulos drew inspiration from her experience in Phineas and Ferb for the show's songs, wanting to combine the humorous tone of the Phineas and Ferb songs with the musical style from the Zombies films. She also drew inspiration from her experience in Descendants: Wicked World.
The song "My Year" from the first film serves as the series' opening theme, with new lyrics to fit the plot of the series. The songwriters originally conceived several original songs to be used as the opening theme; the songs were ultimately used as musical numbers within the series.

Release

In 2023, Zombies: The Re-Animated Series Shorts premiered on July 21, on Disney Channel, Disney Channel's YouTube, and DisneyNOW, and later on Disney+. In May 2024, the trailer of Zombies: The Re-Animated Series was released. The television series premiered on June 28 on Disney Channel, and became available to stream the following day on Disney+.

Reception

Critical response

Ashley Moulton of Common Sense Media gave Zombies: The Re-Animated Series a score of three out of five stars, said the series depicts positive messages and role models, citing environmentalism and the character of Addison Wells, and suggested that tweens who admire high school life can enjoy the series without encountering the more problematic aspects often associated with teenage characters in other shows. John Schwarz of Bubbleblabber rated the first episode of Zombies: The Re-Animated Series 6 out of 10, appreciated the inclusion of some of the characters, and called the aesthetic of the series "fine." However, Schwarz said the show struggles to justify its existence, arguing that 2024 is an era dominated by social content appealing to younger audiences. He also found that the songs in the premiere episodes were unimpressive and that the episode premises were clichéd and rudimentary. Lee Brown of The Review Geek rated Zombies: The Re-Animated Series 5.5 out of 10 and found it to be bright and silly, describing it appealing mainly to children who are already fans of the franchise, as it contains few jokes or themes that would resonate with older teens or grown-ups, though saying the series may not be particularly memorable. They stated that while the show offers occasional chuckles, it might not hold much appeal for those unfamiliar with or uninterested in the Zombies universe. However, Brown asserted that the series does provide positive messages that parents might appreciate discussing with their children.

Ratings

On April 28, Zombies: The Re-Animated Series drew 162,000 total viewers with a 0.05% rating, including 65,900 viewers aged 18–49. A later broadcast on August 3, 2024, recorded 123,000 viewers and 48,000 in the 18–49 demographic. As of December 7, 2024, the series was viewed by 105,000 people, including 26,500 viewers aged 18–49, representing a 15% decrease from the August 3 broadcast.

Accolades

Zombies: The Re-Animated Series was nominated for Kids Digital – Best Web/App Series—Branded at the 2025 Kidscreen Awards. It also received nominations for Best Direction in an Animation Series and Best Art Direction in an Animation Series at the 2025 Leo Awards.