Having recently appeared in a TV advert as his Gremlins character Billy Peltzer, Zach Galligan is coming back to the Gremlins franchise again, as a new character in prequel animated series Gremlins: Secrets of The Mogwai. There has been speculation for over a decade that Gremlins 3 could be coming soon, with the little monstrous critters appearing in adverts and fan films to keep them very much on the public’s radar, and now the new HBO Max series has bolstered its cast with a huge list of guest stars led by Galligan.
Zach Galligan was one of the original stars of Gremlins way back in 1984, and he returned to reprise his role as Billy in the 1990 sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Since then, speculation over a third Gremlins movie has been pretty much constant, and recent appearances of Galligan back with Gizmo in a Mountain Dew commercial once again renewed the calls for the pair to return again for more Gremlin fun.
While that is still not quite on the cards yet, Secrets of The Mogwai brings the franchise back in animated form and goes back in time to the 1920s. For that reason, Galligan couldn’t return to voice his original character but he will instead have a guest role as a new character and joins Sandra Oh, Randall Park, Bowen Yang and George Takei who will all join the previously announced cast of Izaac Wang, A.J. Locascio, Gabrielle Green, James Hong, BD Wong, Ming-Na Wen and Matthew Rhys.
Secrets of The Mogwai Is A Prequel To Gremlins.
Secrets of The Mogwai is an HBO Max original, but it will also debut on Cartoon Network at a later date. Even before the show has premiered, it has already secured a second season and will act as a prequel series to the original Gremlins story. The series is “set in 1920s Shanghai in East China, and focuses on Sam Wing, an ordinary 10-year-old boy who meets Gizmo, a “mogwai” — a strange furry creature that’s sweet and cute but can easily turn violent and destructive. Along with Elle, a teenage Sam sets off on a journey throughout the Chinese countryside to reunite Gizmo with his family, encountering creatures from folklore and being pursued by a growing army of evil gremlins.”
For fans of the original movie, the seeds of the story’s prequel premise are well and truly sown when taking into account that lead character’s surname is Wing, the same as the shopkeeper who looks after Gizmo in the movies. Based on the timeline, and the age of the character seen in the movies, it is more than apparent that Sam Wing is going to have a long relationship with Gizmo, and that could lead to more seasons of the show following if the ratings stack up. Obviously, fans of the franchise will be watching closely to see if the popularity of the animated show will be enough for Warner Bros. to consider moving ahead with Gremlins 3, which considering the current high of nostalgic belated sequels, couldn’t come at a better time.