Back in 2021, news broke that Adam Wingard, director of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, would direct and co-write a hybrid CGI-animation ThunderCats movie, based on the classic ’80s animated TV series of the same name. Since then, though, Wingard has been busy, and ThunderCats seemed to have taken a back seat to other projects.
In 2024, Wingard told io9, “[Co-writer] Simon [Barrett] and I are still actively working on the script. We finished our last draft basically right when I was going into production on [Godzilla x Kong] and we just had to put everything on hold. [But] right now we’re actively working on it again. So whether that means that’s the next thing I do or [not], I’m not sure. But it’s definitely one of the top priorities I have right now in terms of working on a script.”
Now, two years later, Wingard is out promoting his new action thriller, Onslaught, and, naturally, fans are wondering what’s going on with ThunderCats. In an interview with Polygon, Wingard explained, “My career’s kind of bouncing around, so different things have taken precedence. But [ThunderCats is] still kicking around. I think it’s just a matter of finding time to really re-concentrate and re-engage with it. We did a new draft at the beginning of this year. It wasn’t too long ago, and then things got put on hold for this movie [Onslaught]. So I don’t really have any exciting updates. But it’s not dead. It lives. It’s just not the number one [thing] I’m working on right now.”
Which is… nearly word-for-word what he told us in 2024. But maybe now that Onslaught is done, we’re one step closer to finding out what Wingard’s ThunderCats movie will look like. In 2021, he told Deadline, “I want to do a ThunderCats film that takes you back to that ‘80s aesthetic. I don’t want to reinvent the way they look; I want them to look like ThunderCats. I don’t want to do it live-action, either. I don’t want it to look like Cats, I don’t want those kinds of issues—no disrespect to that director, whom I don’t mean to throw under the bus any more than everyone else has. I want to do a movie you’ve never seen before. A hybrid CGI film that has a hyperreal look and somehow bridges the gap between cartoon and CGI. That’s the starting point, and Simon Barrett and I are getting into the script now.”
Perhaps that ambitious vision is part of what’s holding up the film. Warner Bros. also teased an animated ThunderCats feature film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2026, but it’s unclear if that’s a separate project or if it’s the same film Wingard is working on. Either way, it seems like it’ll be at least several years before we see ThunderCats on the big screen.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
