Shawn Ashmore Wants To Do An Animorphs Reboot & Return As Jake

Shawn Ashmore says that he would be willing to return as Jake in a potential reboot of Animorphs. Ashmore is best known for his comic book roles as Iceman in the X-Men franchise and Lamplighter in The Boys as well as starring in the television series The Following and The Rookie. However, one of his first leading roles was in the television series Animorphs, about the exploits of a group of students who are given the power to transform into animals and must use it to prevent the entire human race from being taken over by mind-controlling aliens. The show was adapted from the smash success Scholastic book series by K. A. Applegate.

Animorphs ran for two seasons from 1998 to 2000. The series, which also starred Brooke Nevin, Boris Cabrera, Nadia-Leigh Nascimento, Christopher Ralph, and Paolo Costanzo, featured Shawn Ashmore as Jake, the reluctant but intrepid leader of the group. After learning that his brother Tom is a controller – meaning that an alien Yeerk has taken over his brain – he vows to help bring down the invaders in any way he can. The character’s most common morph in the book series is a Bengal tiger, which is reflected in the show as far as the budget allowed.

Screen Rant had the chance to sit down with Shawn Ashmore and discuss his upcoming film The Free Fall, which hits theaters and VOD on January 14, 2022. During the conversation, Shawn discussed whether or not he would want to be part of an Animorphs reboot if it ever happened. He admits that he read some Twitter conversations about a potential reboot and “one hundred percent” thinks it would be fun to revisit the universe. While some thought he should play the Principal, he admits he would want to play an older Jake, potentially introducing the series in a prologue like in Stand by Me. While other actors sometimes shy away from their early roles, Ashmore says “I don’t look at it like that. I’m thankful for all those things.” Read the full quote below:

100 percent. 100 percent.  Yeah. Again, I think it was about a year ago, there was this discussion on Twitter that I kind of checked out. And I started thinking, “Well, who would I want to play? Or what could the role be?” And it’s either an older Jake, that’s what I ideally would want to do is actually play Jake again, but an older version, whether it was a flashback or a prelude or prologue or something. And then there are people who were like, “Or you could play [Principal Chapman].” People had suggestions, but ideally, it would be cool to play– I was thinking like Stand By Me, the prologue where the character’s talking about his past and then it goes into it. It would be cool to revisit that. I think some actors try to steer away from their past or the things that people recognize them from, I don’t look at it like that. I’m thankful for all those things. They all helped give me a career and they’re all characters that people still seem to like, and are attached to, and have good memories about. So to me, I don’t know. I think it’d be kind of fun.

Although a film adaptation of Animorphs has been in the cards for some time, the prospects of it coming to fruition anytime soon seem low. The film has been in development hell since at least 2015, and the latest news from that front came when K.A. Applegate and her husband Michael Grant exited the project in 2020. Since then, the production team has not been heard from and progress seems to have stalled.

However, if Animorphs does find a way to the screen again, whether as a film or a series, Shawn Ashmore’s return would be a real boon to the project. His presence would be a nod to the legacy of the original series, providing the necessary nostalgia bump without being too distracting. Plus, if he signs on to a project, it would have a much higher chance of getting off the ground after struggling for so long.

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