Television history’s friendliest ghost will soon return to the small screen. Variety reports that NBCUniversal will reboot Casper the Friendly Ghost with a new live-action series for the streaming service Peacock. Netflix’s The Ghost Bride creator Kai Yu Wu (Hannibal, The Flash) will write and executive produce the new Casper series. UCP and DreamWorks Animation are co-producing.

Unconnected to the previous live-action adaptation that premiered in theaters in 1995, this new take on Casper is a horror/adventure series that’s said to “reimagine” Casper’s origin story. It will be a coming-of-age series that explores “what it means to be alive. When a new family arrives in the small town of Eternal Falls, Casper finds himself entangled in a mystery uncovering dark secrets that have been buried for over 100 years.”

Casper the Friendly Ghost was created by Seymour Reit, Joe Oriolo, and Vincent E. Valentine II. He originally started appearing in cartoons in the 1940s and his own comic books by Harvey Comics in the 1950s. The character is best known for his various animated adaptations, with many different Casper shows coming and going over the years, most recently with the CG-animated Casper’s Scare School from 2009 to 2012.

The 1995 live-action movie was also the first film to star a computer-generated character. In that film, Malachi Pearson voiced the animated Casper while Devon Sawa played his human version. Christina Ricci also starred with Bill Pullman, Cathy Moriarty, and Eric Idle. It was a big success at the box office, and there were plans for a sequel for the next few years, though the project never came to fruition, reportedly due to Ricci’s hesitance to return coupled with disappointing home video sales.

1995's Casper Still Resonates With Children Today, So Will a New Series on Peacock?

Casper has a bit of a cult following that still holds up today. It also served as a breakout film for Devon Sawa, who also looks back very fondly at Casper for that reason. In 2020, Sawa took to Twitter to celebrate his co-star Christina Ricci while thanking her for helping to get cast in that film. As Sawa says, she continued to help the young actor get work from there, actions that he’s forever grateful for.

"Christina Ricci is a HUGE talent and played a big part in me getting the role and then went on to recommend me for Now and Then. I owe her the world. #casper," Sawa tweeted.

Crediting Casper's voice actor for doing the heavy lifting with the role, Sawa added in a follow-up tweet, "I was in Casper for 30 secs. Malachi Pearson did the hard work. When they decided last minute to bring Casper to life he was too young. so I landed the role. And I’m very fortunate Brad Silberling chose me cause I’d be lying if I said it didn’t start a 30 year job that I love. Thnx."

We'll see if Peacock manages to bring Casper back into the spotlight with its new animated series.