For a little guy, Gizmo made a big splash at Comic-Con on Friday morning, where HBO Max dropped new intel and a trailer for its upcoming “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” animated series — before revealing a big surprise addition to the cast: OG star Zach Galligan.
The 10-episode show is a prequel to the 1984 film and revolves around 10-year-old Sam Wing, the future shop owner from whom Billy Peltzer’s dad steals the furry creature in the movie, and how he met Gizmo for the first time. The show is set in 1920s Shanghai and, according to Warner Bros., is “steeped in China’s rich culture and mythology.”
On the new series, Sam Wing (voiced by Izaac Wang) accepts the dangerous task of taking Gizmo (AJ LoCascio) home, taking them on a journey through the Chinese countryside. Along the way, they meet up with a French thief named Elle (Gabrielle Neveah Green), battling “colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore” — and, of course, an army of evil Gremlins — throughout their quest.
During the panel for the show on Friday, Zach Galligan — who played protagonist Billy in both “Gremlins” and “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” — made a surprise appearance and confirmed he too would be involved in the show. Since it’s the 1920s, he’s not playing Billy, but couldn’t say who he would be voicing on the series.
TooFab caught up with Galligan, as well as Wang, Green and LoCascio at the convention, where the returning star — rocking a Gizmo mask — said it was an honor to be back in the Gremlins world.
“Anytime that I’m part of it, whether it’s ‘Gremlins 2,’ or ‘Secrets of the Mogwai’ or the Mountain Dew commercial and seeing the brand new 2021 Gizmo, with the new technology, was absolutely mind blowing,” he said. “It’s always great, it’s always fun, it has that coming home feel to it and new people, new experiences and it’s been a blast.”
And while the show delves into Gizmo’s origin story, Galligan said that while some of the reveals didn’t exactly surprise him, he very much enjoyed the ride.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, it takes a lot really to surprise me. I thought it was very creative and I thought they did some interesting, very smart things, which to me is more important to being surprised,” he said. “I think when it comes down to entertainment, the most important thing is execution. It’s how well you’re gonna tell it. The animation, the visual look of it is great, the voices are great and when you put it together with a good story, you’re going to have a really entertaining show to watch.”
Though AJ grew up watching the original films and had been doing a version of Gizmo’s little voice since childhood, his younger costars were totally new to the Mogwai world.
“Izaac and I were not even thought of when the original films came out. My first introduction to the films were essentially when I first booked the job,” said Green. “At the time, I was 13-14 and very scared of horror films. You could not sit me down for anything, to watch anything scary. But I had to bite the bullet because it’s such a beloved franchise, you have to know something if you’re going to be involved in any way.”
“I sat down with my family and I watched it and I fell in love with it because it was scary, but also funny,” she continued. “It was a great introductory horror film for me and I’m really blessed to be part of a franchise that people still love to this day.”
Izaac, meanwhile, said he “had no idea what Gremlins were” when he booked the job.
“You notice Gabby and Izaac said they hadn’t seen it and weren’t aware of it. Being the guy who’s the face of the franchise, I’m pretty aware who knows about Gremlins and who doesn’t and who comes up to me on the street and who doesn’t,” Galligan said. “25 and under, the franchise really has not managed to maintain traction. If you’re looking at it like a franchise, 0-25 is the age group that you really need to educate about the mythology and hip them to.”
“Hopefully, this will be the portal into Gremlin mythology to people who are not aware of it,” he added.
One thing everyone right now is aware of is the beef between Gizmo and Grogu from “The Mandalorian,” after “Gremlins” director Joe Dante claimed Baby Yoda is a “completely stolen and is just out-and-out copied” version of his cuddly creature.
“You know, my feeling is that there are so many characters that people love at San Diego Comic-Con and there are more characters coming. Who would have thought Groot would be so beloved?” Galligan diplomatically told TooFab. “There’s so many characters, there’s room for so many and room for so many toys, so I think the more the merrier. It’s really just the best way to go about it. I’ll always be partial to Gizmo, because he’s my buddy. The limit is your imagination.”
During the panel, it was revealed that Sandra Oh, Randall Park, Geoge Takei and Bowen Yang will also be joining the series in guest starring roles. “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” is set to debut later this year on HBO Max, before later airing as part of ACME Night on Cartoon Network.
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