Netflix is tapping the Wednesday duo for another genre swing, this time in animation. Al Gough and Miles Millar are developing an adult animated series based on Boom! Studios' horror-fantasy comic Grim, with Jennifer Yuh Nelson on board to direct. On paper, that combo makes a lot of sense.
What is Grim?
Per Deadline, the show centers on Jessica Harrow, a freshly minted Reaper tasked with escorting souls to the hereafter. The catch: she has no memory of how she died or who she used to be. That mystery drags her into the nuts-and-bolts of how the afterlife actually runs — think less pearly gates, more apparatus.
Who is making it
If your eyes glaze over when production credits start piling up, fair. Here is the quick who-does-what breakdown:
- Executive producers: Al Gough and Miles Millar (via their Millar/Gough Ink banner), alongside Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
- Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
- Additional Millar/Gough Ink oversight: Aaron Schmidt.
- Executive producers for Boom! Studios: Stephen Christy and Adam Yoelin.
- Co-executive producers: Mette Norkjaer, Stephanie Phillips, and Flaviano.
Why this team fits
Gough and Millar are coming off Wednesday, which has two seasons sitting among Netflix's most-watched English-language series. On TV, they also steered Smallville, Into the Badlands, and The Shannara Chronicles. Their feature credits include Spider-Man 2, Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Knights, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. If you want pulp with momentum, that is their lane.
Jennifer Yuh Nelson brings the animation pedigree. She directed multiple episodes of Love, Death + Robots, was Head of Story on the original Kung Fu Panda, then directed Kung Fu Panda 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3. She became the first woman to solo-direct a major studio animated feature and earned an Oscar nomination for Kung Fu Panda 2. In short: she knows how to stage big, stylish animation that still lands emotionally.
The comic background
Grim comes from writer Stephanie Phillips and artist Flaviano and launched in 2022 as one of Boom! Studios' highest-selling debuts. The series spans 25 issues and, as of the trade coverage, is wrapping its run this month. Boom! itself has been around since 2005 and keeps feeding TV: recent example, Butterfly, starring Daniel Dae Kim.
The bottom line
Adult animated afterlife noir with a memory-wiped Reaper, backed by the Wednesday showrunners and directed by a top-tier animation filmmaker, feels like a strong bet for Netflix. No release window or casting yet, but the creative lineup is doing most of the talking for now.