The limited series set for Amazon will follow the real-life battle between Hasbro and Mattel as the two toy companies duked it out in the ’80s and ’90s.
Amazon is looking to add another original series to its roster, and Toy Wars certainly has a promising premise.
Deadline broke the news about the team-up happening between Josh Gad, Josh Schwartz, and Seth Gordon.
The show is based off the book Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies that Make Them by G. Wayne Miller. It follows Alan Hassenfeld, an executive at Hasbro, who took over the company when his marketing genius of a brother Stephen died of AIDS.
What’s perhaps most interesting here is that Stephen Hassenfeld had a team of “Three Musketeers,” one of which was Stephen Schwartz, who happens to be Josh Schwartz’s father. The project will undoubtedly have a personal touch to it.
Gad, who is starring in the series, will team up with Schwartz and Ryan Dixon to write it for Amazon. Schwartz will act as showrunner, while Gordon will direct the pilot. There may be room for Gordon to return for more directorial opportunities, given availability.
Of the author of the novel, Deadline says, “Miller wrote the book after five years of unprecedented access to Hasbro, sitting in on meetings and interviewing employees.”
There’s bound to be plenty of material to work with, though given the show is already being pitched as a limited series, it’ll be interesting to see how many episodes we’ll be getting.
Gad stole hearts as Olaf in Frozen and will be portraying Le Fou in the upcoming live-action Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson.
Aside from being the creator of The O.C. and Gossip Girl, Schwartz’s next claim to fame will certainly be the Runaways series he’s developing for Marvel and Hulu. He’ll also be adapting a Monster High movie, which is, coincidentally, based off the Mattel figures.
Dixon wrote 2016’s Opening Night and will be taking on Triplets for Universal, which is a sequel to Twins.
Gordon, meanwhile, directed Horrible Bosses back in 2011 and has directed the upcoming Baywatch movie starring Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Priyanka Chopra, and Alexandra Daddario.
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