According to Deadline, The Baby-Sitters Club alum Momona Tamada and Alyvia Alyn Lind have been tapped to join Disney+’s upcoming live-action series adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles, based on Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black’s bestselling books of the same name.
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Tamada and Lind are slated to portray the recurring roles of Emiko and Calliope, respectively. Their complete character descriptions are listed below:
- Emiko – A local teenager in Henson, she’s a member of the outpatient group therapy at the Meskwaki Psychiatric Hospital. Diagnosed as a pathological liar, it’s hard to know when she is telling the truth, but it’s clear that as a townie she has also grown-up hearing about the mysterious goings-on at the Spiderwick Estate and is curious about its newest resident, Jared.
- Calliope – On the outside, she is a perfectly normal girl, but that is only her exterior. She is in fact a Fetch (a portent of death) who has taken this disguise to be able to stay close to the evil ogre, Mulgarath (Slater), and assist in his quest to find Spiderwick’s Field Guide.
The Spiderwick Chronicles series is executive produced by showrunner Aron Eli Coleite, with Kat Coiro set to direct the first two episodes. It stars Lyon Daniels as Jared Grace, Noah Cottrell as Simon Grace, Mychala Lee as Mallory Grace, and Joy Bryant as Helen Grace, with Christian Slater playing the villainous ogre Mulgarath.
“The series follows the Grace Family — twin brothers Jared and Simon, their sister Mallory and mother Helen — as they move into their dilapidated ancestral home,” reads an official synopsis for the series. “They begin to unravel a dark mystery about their great-great Uncle who once discovered the secret and sometimes dangerous faerie world.”
Executive producers are Coiro, Holly Black, Tony DiTerlizzi, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, D.J. Goldberg, Julie Kane-Ritsch, and Grace Gilroy. It hails from Paramount Television Studios and 20th Television.
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This isn’t the first time that The Spiderwick Chronicles has been adapted. In 2008, a film based on the first book in the series was released, which starred Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Mary-Louise Parker, Seth Rogen, Martin Short, and Nick Nolte. A sequel was never made, so Disney is hoping to have a bit more luck with their take on the series whenever it does release.
