Great news, everyone! The beloved yet short-lived animated comedy series Clone High is getting re-imagined for MTV, and the original creators are onboard. You may or may not know that Phil Lord and Chris Miller — the wildly successful (and Oscar-winning) filmmakers behind movies like The LEGO Movie and 21 Jump Street – got their start co-creating Clone High in the early 2000s. The show only ran for 13 episodes on MTV in the U.S. and on Teletoon in Canada, but it built up a cult following for its tremendous sense of humor and unique premise.
Like the original, “Clone High” will follow prominent historical figures who have been cloned and placed back in high school, including Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, John F. Kennedy, and more, as they face the trials and tribulations of normal teenage life.
Image via Columbia Pictures
Lord and Miller will “reimagine” Clone High with co-creator Bill Lawrence for MTV Studios, although it’s unclear exactly where this might air. Since MTV Studios is owned by Viacom CBS, it could be part of the re-imagined version of the streaming service CBS All Access that’s in the works.
Erica Rivinoja, who was a writer on the original series, will serve as showrunner and will co-write the pilot with Lord and Miller.
This news comes soon after MTV Studios announced that Beavis and Butt-Head creator Mike Judge is revisiting that iconic MTV animated series for two new seasons, so it appears that MTV is making a concerted effort to create content for young viewers that’s edgy and creative – just like they did back in the early 2000s.
Lord and Miller are mighty busy at the moment, but I’m thrilled to hear that they’ll have a hand in bringing Clone High back. The two are readying their next feature film, an astronaut movie starring Ryan Gosling based on a book by Andy Weir, and they’re also working on a live-action Apple series called The Afterparty that Miller will showrun. The two are producers on the upcoming Sony Pictures Animation film Connected, and are returning to produce the highly anticipated upcoming Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel.
Lawrence, meanwhile, is currently working on the Apple series Ted Lasso starring Jason Sudeikis.