‘Everybody Hates Chris’ Animated Reboot in the Works at CBS Studios

Everybody Hates Chris is getting a potential new life — as an animated series.

CBS Studios is developing a reboot of the critically acclaimed UPN/CW comedy about comedian Chris Rock’s childhood. The studio is also developing an American version of Israeli drama Shtisel and a show based on Jamal Joseph’s memoir Panther Baby.

Everybody Hates Chris and Shtisel will soon be taken out to potential buyers, while Panther Baby is set up at Starz.

The original Everybody Hates Chris ran from 2005-09 on UPN and The CW and focused on Rock’s teenage years in Brooklyn. Co-creators Rock and Ali LeRoi are also behind the animated version, executive producing with Michael Rotenberg (who was an EP of the live-action show). Rock is also expected to narrate the animated show, as he did the original.

CBS Studios has made a push into animation recently with a pair of Star Trek series: Lower Decks at Paramount+ and the upcoming Prodigy at Nickelodeon — the first Trek series aimed at kids. The studio is also behind Showtime’s Our Cartoon President and Paramount+’s Tooning Out the News (both exec produced by Stephen Colbert) and is producing an animated fourth season of comedy No Activity for Paramount+.

The American remake of Shtisel comes from writer Lauren Gussis (Insatiable, Dexter), with Kenneth Lonergan attached to direct. It’s described as a modern Romeo and Julie tale centered on the privileged daughter of a Hollywood power couple who falls for a Hasidic man and becomes willing to uproot her entire life to be with him.

Starz, meanwhile, is developing Panther Baby as CBS Studios continues to sell to outside buyers in addition to supplying ViacomCBS outlets. The drama is based on Jamal Joseph’s memoir and tells the story of a sheltered Black boy who gets thrust into the Black Panther movement in 1960s Harlem, finding his identity, cause and manhood in the process. Joseph is writing, and Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Old Guard, Beyond the Lights) will direct. Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit) and Reggie Rock Bythewood executive produce.

Deadline first reported the news.

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