Nickelodeon developing ‘Hey Arnold!’ TV movie
Nickelodeon’s “Hey Arnold!” ended with a promise of future adventures. In the final episodes produced, “The Journal (Parts 1 & 2),” titular, football-headed Arnold was off to find his missing parents, in the jungle that had seemingly consumed them. Said adventures never came. Until now.
The Viacom-owned network is developing a new TV movie based on the animated series and will address the questions left lingering when the series ended, including the fate of Arnold’s parents, Variety reports.
“Hey Arnold!” focused on the adventures of a 9-year-old boy named Arnold, who lives with his grandparents in their boarding house in the city and gets into scrapes with his friends Gerald and Helga. The series aired 100 episodes between 1996 and 2004 and spawned one feature film.
The TV movie is the first new content in the network’s move to make money from its back catalog. In October, Nickelodeon launched a block of classic ’90s programs called “The Splat,” which features a rotating lineup including “Doug,” “Clarissa Explains It All,” and, yes, “Hey Arnold!”
The project came to fruition through a conversation with Craig Bartlett, creator of the series, who mentioned all of the ways the show still enters cultural conversations online, from fan fiction to fan art and YouTube shorts.
Bartlett will serve as writer and executive producer on the new film.
Nickelodeon has yet to offer a timeline for the new material’s release.
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