Warrior Cats Animation Series on Disney+

Since I started the Warriors series as a pre-teen and interacted with animations on YouTube, I’ve always wanted an official animation of the books. Well, warriors, we have our news. The Warrior Cats animation TV series will release globally on Disney+ and Disney Channel in 2028.

I need to get a specific detail out of the way first. Disney is distributing the series; that does not mean they are producing it. While I’ll go into concerns regardless, I wanted that to be clear.

The show will be created and run by AC Bradley and directed by Rodrigo Blaas in collaboration with El Guiri Studios and the adaptation from Original Force for the Chinese media Tencent Video.

This update is much needed since the first possibility of a Warriors animation (not knowing if it was a movie or TV series) was announced by Coolabi Group on January 25, 2024 and the official Warrior Cats website in 2024 as well.

While news sites have picked up this information, I originally learned of it through Vicky Holmes’ announcement on her Facebook page. She showed the screenshot of Coolabi’s tweet sharing an article from Deadline. Her post included the information in a cheeky way:

“When we announced that the Chinese media giant are going to create an animated TV series of Warriors, a lot of you asked if there would be an English language version available.

 

Well, I can finally let the cat(s) out of the bag.

 

One word: DISNEY.”

I know I was stressing about having access to the series when Holmes originally confirmed—on June 1st of this year—that Tencent Video was going to be turning the Warriors book series into a TV series. She specifically said it was exclusive to South East Asia, making fans like myself wonder where that left us.

Today, June 18th, is when we got the news that it would be released globally, too!

Now, the worries. Before I researched it, I was concerned that Disney was creating the series. I wasn’t sure how much I trusted them to do Warriors justice. However, when I realized they would simply be the distributor, I relaxed a bit.

Is it possible they could still ask the creators and producers to scale back the violence and death? Maybe. Do they just need to rate it PG-13 if any death is shown? Can they show blood? I’m not sure. I can’t say I know much about what goes into deciding the ratings and intensity of a series.

As for the people credited with their involvement, I’m cautiously optimistic. AC Bradley has been a writer and producer for multiple animations since 2018, like Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia and What If…? for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her resume might not be long but she has won and been nominated for different writing achievements for these series. These include the Best Writing award 2018 from Kidscreen Awards for Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia and the 2022 Critics Choice Awards for Best Animated Series for What If…?.

Rodrigo Blaas also worked with Bradley on Tales of Arcadia and wrote and directed some Star Wars content for Disney+ like the short film Sith. It makes sense to hire these creatives considering their connection to Disney+, so I’m hoping for good things from them both.

As for the authenticity and accuracy to the series, we won’t know until 2028.

In the comments under Holmes’ Facebook post, many fans express concerns that echo mine.

Adrián Ramírez Pérez commented, “I’m glad for this, but also I highly ask you to keep a good look out for your IP. Disney isn’t particularly famous for taking care of their creators. And mostly I’m referring to Dana Terrace who created “The [O]wl [H]ouse” and all the problems she had to go through. But overall, I’m very glad with [this] news.”

Another fan, Chaela Alston, says, “I fear that Disney may water it down. Warrior lives can be cold and brutal.  Are they gonna show how Scourge took all of 9 of Tigerstar’s lives? Or Bluestar losing her faith and slowly going crazy?… I know these books are geared towards youth… but I really don’t want it to be babyfied for ‘kids’ so hard that it loses its edge.”

I share these worries. The books don’t shy away from dark themes. It might be different to see it visually, but there must be ways to work around a PG-13 rating (my assumption for the rating) while keeping the integrity of the series. The graphic novel adaptations seemed to do Tigerstar’s death tastefully for a younger audience, for instance.

So the questions become: are they going to keep the brutality of the cats’ actions, as well as simply keeping the plots the same? What if character names or descriptions are changed? What if entire plots are cut out? As with many fandoms, Warriors fans are very particular (myself being one of them). Surely the anticipate our potential issues with the series going to the screen.

Holmes responses to Pérez and Alston relieved me somewhat.

To Pérez:

“Please don’t worry, the Erin team is working VERY closely with the animation creators. We are EAGLE-EYED.”

To Alston:

“Don’t worry, the Erin team is closely involved!”

Usually when creators are more closely involved with adaptations, they go smoother. I’m positive things are going to change when they switch to animation. What adaptation is one-hundred-percent accurate anyhow?

Yet, I do hope it is as close to The Prophecies Begin as possible. Hit the major plot points, don’t change mates around, don’t change character personalities or designs, and you’re golden to me.

Which means, I am excited for this. In the past few years, the Warriors fandom has gotten an insane revival. We now have more merchandise, including those released in in-person stores, and graphic novel adaptations. It only makes sense that a TV series would follow. Any Warrior Cats content I can consume, I will.