Mythology and fairy tales are popular fodder for retellings. One such tale has landed its own Netflix animated show that premiered on October 8, and since the writing of this article, has achieved the fourth spot in the streaming service’s top 10 kids’ shows in the U.S. The 10-episode series is based on the middle grade book series A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz (Dutton). The story follows familiar characters Hansel and Gretel as they journey from one Grimm fairy tale to another on a quest to find “perfect” parents after their own parents chop off their heads.

The Canadian-American series is produced in partnership with Boat Rocker Studios in association with Novo Media Group and Astro-Nomical Entertainment. Animation is produced by Boat Rocker’s Jam Filled Entertainment, based out of Ottawa, Canada, and developed for Netflix by Doug Langdale (Dave the Barbarian) and Simon Otto (How to Train Your Dragon). Langdale also served as producer and Otto served as supervising director.

The voice cast features Raini Rodriguez (Austin & Ally); Andre Robinson (The Loud House); Adam Lambert (American Idol); Scott Adsit (Big Hero 6: The Series); Ron Funches (Trolls); Erica Rhodes (La Vie en Rhodes); Eric Bauza (Space Jam: A New Legacy); Tom Hollander (American Dad!); Missi Pyle (Bordertown); and Nicole Byer (Nailed It!).

Gidwitz credits the fruition of his idea for the book series to a girl in the audience when he was telling the story of “Faithful Johannes” to a group of second graders as a substitute librarian. “This one girl that I’ll never forget,” Gidwitz recalled fondly, “she stuck her finger into my face and she goes, ‘That was good.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And she goes, ‘You should make that into a book.’ So, I did.”

A Tale Dark & Grimm (2010) was Gidwitz’s debut and is the first in a trilogy followed by In a Glass Grimmly and The Grimm Conclusion. The first book has received several accolades including being named a New York Times Editor’s Choice, an ALA Notable boo in 2010, and a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year. It’s no surprise the series has garnered fans, one of them being supervising director Simon Otto.

When Otto was first brought on by producer Chris Henderson, it was love at first read, after he read the original books. “I immediately had a real love for Adam as a story teller. Not only in his writing but watching him read stories to kids in school, it really felt like a performance.”

The road to production wasn’t so easy, however: one of the first hurdles being how to present the gory aspects of the novel in a less grisly way while staying true to the tone of Gidwitz’s original source material. “Whenever the story goes to the point where it could be a little too scary for kids, [in the book Gidwitz] holds their hands, helps them go along and understand why this matters or why not to be afraid,” Otto said. “And we needed to find a way to do that.” A problem that was creatively solved by the addition of three unreliable raven narrators.

Not being able to work with the crew members in person due to the pandemic was another major difficulty. “We would record Scott Adsit [voice of William and Hunter] in New York over Zoom and he had a closet transformed into a recording studio,” Otto recalled. “We had to send him the microphones and the equipment. And at 7 p.m. we had to stop because people were banging pans outside [to honor essential workers] and we would hear it in the recording.”

But the hard work paid off with everyone’s strong collaborative efforts, even if the process, including getting officially greenlit by Netflix, was slow going. Looking back, Gidwitz said, “It wasn’t until I saw it on Netflix, A Tale Dark & Grimm, in the font that was in the original book, I thought ‘Wow, it’s actually up there.’ ” Gidwitz’s mother even had some hard-won praise for the show upon its release, for the character voiced by Adam Lambert.

And that’s not the only happy ending. Gidwitz ran into the girl from the school visit years later—once at the Brooklyn Book festival, and then again on the streets of New York. “Somebody was canvassing next to me for a political candidate, and it was the same girl. She’s going to college now and so impressive.”

Gidwitz hopes the show, like his book, will encourage kids to feel stronger and braver, no matter what life has in store for them, and to acknowledge that family comes in all shapes and sizes. “I want them to learn how to love their family, however they define it and whoever their family is for them.”

Meanwhile, Otto has his closest adviser—his 12-year-old son—and his own inner child in mind. “Kids have complex emotions. I remember some events in my life that I laugh at today. Those memories are so strong. Storytelling allows you to have the first dip into that water of complex emotions. I think that’s something that I feel really proud of. We provide kids with a safe environment to talk about things that are usually not talked about.”

Gidwitz’s fans can expect some more projects in the future, including his next standalone middle grade novel, tentatively titled Operation Kobold, about a boy spy during WWII with two invisible goblin-like creatures who sit on his shoulders.

“We made a cool show that’s super weird and very niche. And who is this really for?” Gidwitz asked. “For us, it’s for families. For everything I do, I want anyone who is interested in feeling deeply and engaging to enjoy it. That’s my hope.”