Casper the Friendly Ghost is getting the Riverdale treatment with new live-action series

Christina Ricci in Casper
(Image credit: Universal)

Casper is getting a dark and gritty reboot – everyone's favorite Friendly Ghost is getting the live-action treatment in a horror adventure series for Peacock. 

Deadline reports that the new series will reimagine the origins of Casper as a coming of age story that explores what it means to be alive, taking a darker tone on the character reminiscent of Riverdale's take on the Archie comics.

The show will be set in high school and will follow the arrival of a new family in the small town of Eternal Falls, which in turn causes Casper to become entangled in a mystery that uncovers 100-year-old dark secrets. 

The series will be written and executive produced by Kai Yu Wu, who previously served as the head writer on the Netflix series The Ghost Bride. She's also written for shows like The Flash and Hannibal. 

Casper has been in live-action adventures before – he was voiced by Malachi Pearson in the 1995 movie Casper, which also starred Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman. In the movie, Casper was originally a 12-year-old boy who died of pneumonia, but it's unclear whether he will have the same origin story in the upcoming series.

The character was first featured in a series of cartoons shown in theaters between 1945 and 1959, and since then he's also appeared in a variety of comic books, TV shows, and movies.   

While we wait for the live-action Casper series to arrive on the small screen, check out our list of the best Netflix shows that you can stream right now. 

Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.