J.J. Abrams through his company Bad Robot, will executive produce the upcoming Speed Racer series. Apple TV+ will stream the live-action series. Hiram Martinez will co-write alongside J.J. Abrams for the series and will be the showrunner. Tatsuo Yoshida created Speed Racer. His creation was turned into a series in the 1960s and ran for 50 episodes. Nickelodeon tried to make an English language version in 2002 called Speed Racer X, but licensing issues brought it to a halt. J.J. Abrams has been trying to get the green light for this Speed Racer series. The Wachowskis made it into a film in 2008 with Emile Hirsch as the lead. It didn’t do well and lost money for Warner Bros. Pictures. The rights to the franchise were returned to Tatsunoko Production, but Tatsunoko is said to have given the Apple TV+ live-action series their blessing.
J.J. Abrams Has Landed Another Gig with a Well Known Franchise
From Alias to Super 8, J.J. Abrams has had a notable career. He has even managed to make films in the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises. J.J. Abrams received mixed reviews for his take on the franchises. Now J.J. Abrams is working on the Apple TV+ live-action Speed Racer series. This project is part of his $250 million overall deal with Warner Bros. J.J. Abrams is also working on Presumed Innocent for Apple as well. Since the Discovery and Warner Bros. merger, many of Abrams’ projects are under scrutiny. His series Demimonde is in danger of being canceled before it starts because of Abrams’ large budget demands. The company is assessing whether the Speed Racer series and J.J. Abrams are worth the investment. As of now, his live-action Speed Racer series for Apple TV+ is still a go. He may redeem himself with Speed Racer.
There is no set release date for the J.J. Abrams Speed Racer series, but it will be available on Apple TV+ for streaming once it’s released.