Get ready to return to the Saskatchewan prairies with today’s announcement that “Corner Gas” is set to return to television.
The beloved Canadian sitcom, which ran from 2004 until 2009, will reunite the main cast for a new iteration, with a big difference: this “Corner Gas” will be animated, not live action.
“It’s been a huge amount of fun creating animated scripts for our ‘Corner Gas’ gang,” the show’s creator and star Brent Butt said in the announcement.
Butt and his “Corner Gas” cast-mates reunited for a made-for-TV movie in 2014, which was apparently successful enough to usher in the upcoming animated series.
Star Janet Wright, who played Butt’s hilariously abrasive mother Emma Leroy, passed away last month, so casting for an actress to play the voice of her character is currently underway.
RELATED: ‘Corner Gas’ Actress Janet Wright Passes Away At 71
“We are thrilled the original cast is back and that the Emma character will live on in the animated series,” said exec producer Virginia Thompson. “Emma will remain funny and fearless in the new series and will pay tribute to Janet Wright for many years to come.”
As Butt explained, rejigging “Corner Gas” as a cartoon opens the door for some new comedic possibilities that simply weren’t possible in the original live-action sitcom.
“We used to come up with some pretty wild fantasy sequences and bizarre flashbacks in the old story room, but were limited with what we could do in the real world,” he added. “Buckle up! We’re not in the real world anymore!”
Production is set to begin in January 2017, with the premiere date yet to be announced.
Prior to the announcement, Butt dropped a teasing hint on Twitter:
