While we are getting a new Gremlins animated series in the HBO Max/Cartoon Network release of Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, that has only caused more questions over the status of a big screen return of Gizmo and the army of chaos-loving creatures that follow in his wake. Gremlins creator Chris Columbus still believes that a new sequel will happen, but at the moment he cannot offer up much in the way of new information. When the new animated series arrives, it could be the catalyst needed to finally push Warner Bros. to get the ball rolling properly if the fans get on board.

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Columbus said, "I can only say we're working on it. We're working toward that goal, but we haven't gotten there yet." Although this isn't the greatest update fans could have hoped for, it is the first time the subject has been addressed in a year. Columbus previously spoke to Collider about what Gremlins 3 would look like and how a lot of progress had been made on the script of the sequel.

"I would love to do it," Chris Columbus said. "I wrote a script, so there is an existing script. We're working out some rights issues right now, so we're just trying to figure out when the best time to make that film would be. I would still do it the same way -- I would do it as tangible puppets, not CGI. Maybe having -- you know we had one stop-motion scene in the first Gremlins, but I don't think I'd use much CGI in Gremlins 3."

When it comes to reboots, remakes and new sequels, the one thing that usually ends up derailing a production is trying to change too much about what made the original properties so popular. This includes excessive use of CGI over practical effects. Even now, heading towards 40 years later,Gremlins still holds up despite the original monsters being a combination of stop motion animation and puppetry, proving that movies using practical effects don't age badly if they are done right. To know that Columbus would want to stick with the same filmmaking style of the original movies just makes a sequel even more anticipated and wanted than ever, and it is not just fans who really want this to happen.

Zach Galligan, who appeared in both Gremlins and 1990's Gremlins 2: The New Batch, as well as a more recent Mountain Dew ad with Gizmo, told ComicBook.com earlier this year that he would love to return to the franchise.

"Much, much more interested, because one of the things about doing the Gremlins movies is you would watch, even the difference between 1983 and 1989, effects, technology-wise was really a quantum leap," Galligan said. "One of the reasons was that Chris Walas, who did a fantastic job in the first movie, he really didn't have a whole lot of technology to work with. In fairness to him, he would admit, it was his first major gig. So he was under a lot of pressure and he didn't have as much experience as, probably in retrospect, he would have liked to have had."

He went on, "Then, flash-forward to 1989, six years of technological growth, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it can in technology, the six years can be gargantuan, and the technology was a lot better. And, obviously, we hired Rick Baker, who's the greatest special effects guy of all time, with seven Oscars and 12 nominations to show for it. They tell you the effects on that, given the technology of the time, were absolutely jaw-dropping."

The Gremlins get their new outing in the animated series, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, which will air as part of Cartoon Network's ACME Night block, before heading to HBO Max next year. This news comes to us from ComicBook.com.