The prayers of Invader Zim fans everywhere have been answ ered at last. In September 2015 Nickelodeon announced several possible projects to return some beloved cartoons to the screen, among them Invader Zim. Now, the children’s TV station has announced that Zim and GIR will be back to rain DOOM upon the planet once again in a new animated TV movie.
Zim is an alien from the planet Irk, determined to conquer Earth and turn humankind into slaves. He and his lovable malfunctioning robot GIR seek the approval of Irk’s rulers The Almighty Tallest, but Zim and GIR fairly awful at their job, especially when a classmate obsessed with the paranormal named Dib gets in the way.
According to Variety, series creator Jhonen Vasquez will be returning to guide the new movie. Also returning is the original cast: Richard Horvitz as Zim, Rosearik Rikki Simons as the lovable robot GIR, Andy Berman as Dib, and Melissa Gahn as Gaz: Dib’s younger sister.
Invader Zim premiered in 2001 and ran for only one season of 20 episodes (22 minutes each). The first episode of Season 2 was aired, but then the show was cancelled. Later episodes of Season 2 did appear on DVD collections of Invader Zim and in 2011 the original pilot made in 1999 was aired for the first time on Nicktoons. The new movie will run for about 90 minutes, and joins the specials of other classics like Hey Arnold! and Rocko’s Modern Life which are also in the works at Nickelodeon, per Variety.
There is no premiere date set for the Invader Zim movie, but the teaser trailer promises Zim will plot against mankind “soon-ish” as long as GIR stays in his green dog suit and doesn’t spoil the evil plot.