A different comic series slated for Disney+ has found its first director. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man, 500 Days of Summer) will direct the first two episodes of Just Beyond. Described as a horror-comedy anthology series, Just Beyond comes from the mind of children’s book legend, R.L. Stine (Be Careful What You Wish For, Monsterville) and comic publisher Boom! Studios (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Seven Secrets).
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the graphic novel series is reminiscent of Stine’s Goosebumps chapter books, following spooky tales with middle school students as the main characters. The first installment of the TV adaptation will be eight episodes. The series is currently being filmed in Atlanta.
Novelist Seth Grahame-Smith (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Unholy Night) will serve as writer and showrunner, via The Hollywood Reporter. Grahame-Smith will executive produce the series with David Katzenberg (The Hard Times of RJ Berger, Gremlins 3) and Aaron Schmidt (Child’s Play, The Black Tulip) via his KatzSmith Productions. Boom! Studios’ Stephen Christy (Mouse Gaurd, The Empty Man) and Ross Richie (2 Guns, Brain Powered) will also executive produce with Stine serving as a co-executive producer.
Stine’s Goosebumps series haunted the imagination of youth throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Tales such as Night of the Living Dummy and The Haunted Mask eventually spawned film adaptations and TV movies. The iconic stories were adapted in the 2015 film, Goosebumps, starring Jack Black (Jumanji: The Next Level, School of Rock).
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Webb entered the film world directing music videos before helming the breakout indie, 500 Days of Summer. Since then he has dabbled in both film and television. He directed Chris Evans (The Fantastic Four, Knives Out) and Octavia Spencer (Thunder Force, Luce) in 2017’s family drama, Gifted. In television, he has worked on a range of series including Paramount+’s Why Women Kill and Netflix’s The Society.