The Jim Henson Company, the puppet-based production house behind Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, has come on board Knights of Panterra, a Canadian live-action series based on the Dino Knights kids books by Jeff Norton.
Omnifilm Entertainment, which produced The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco for Britbox, ITV, City and Netflix, and The Jim Henson Company will jointly develop the family series set in a fantasy world where dinosaurs never went extinct.
As evil descends on the small town of Brim, four ill-equipped teens facing impossible odds combine their unique skills to become freedom fighters and save their kingdom from ruthless invaders. “It’s every kid’s dream to have a dinosaur as a pet and Knights of Panterra realizes that dream with beautiful realism,” said Halle Stanford, president of television for The Jim Henson Company, in a statement.
Founded in 1955 by puppeteer Jim Henson as Muppets Inc., The Jim Henson Company was behind the popular variety series The Muppet Show, which ran for five seasons. Julie’s Greenroom, starring Julie Andrews, and Sid the Science Kid are a few of the company’s recent TV credits.
A Dark Crystal prequel series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, is also in production for Netflix.
Sam Ruano (Killjoys, Lost Girl) and Rachel Langer (Ghost Wars, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco) wrote the scripts for Knights of Panterra, with Zach Lipovsky (Mech-X4) attached to direct.
Jamie Piekarz, Lisa Henson, Halle Stanford, Brian Hamilton, Barry, Piekarz, Norton and Lipovsky will share executive producer credits.
“With The Jim Henson Company as our partners, I know we will be able to deliver on the promise of this ambitious adventure,” said Simon Barry in his own statement.
