Mel Brooks fans are having a hell of a year. Deadline just announced that FX is nearing a pilot order on Very Young Frankenstein, a prequel comedy series based on the director’s classic 1974 film Young Frankenstein, starring Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman. The project hails from the team behind the What We Do in the Shadows series, including Stefani Robinson as showrunner, Garrett Basch, and Taika Waititi.
Brooks, who gave the series his blessing, is set to executive produce the project alongside his producing partner Kevin Salter, as well Young Frankenstein producer Michael Gruskoff. No plot has been announced for the series, but given the title, we can assume that it’ll focus on Frankenstein (pronounced Fronk-en-steen, thank you very much) and his life before he decided to take up his grandfather’s work and build a man from body parts. Perhaps we’ll even see how he met his fianceé Elizabeth, played by the late, great Madeline Kahn in the original film.
This isn’t the first time Brooks has authorized a continuation of one of his works from a new set of creatives. Nick Kroll led the charge on History of the World, Part II, a series that debuted in 2023 on Hulu, and it was just recently announced that Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, and Rick Moranis are all returning for Spaceballs 2, as well as roping Pullman’s real life son and Thunderbolts* breakout star Lewis Pullman into the proceedings.
Released to much fanfare in 1974, Young Frankenstein became a cult classic with its comedic take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and its sundry film adaptations — down to using props and set pieces from James Whale’s Universal Monsters classic that inspired it all. Also starring Peter Boyle, Teri Garr, and Cloris Leachman (cue the horse whinnying), the film’s reputation eventually led Brooks to adapt the film as a musical in 2007, his second after the Tony Award-winning The Producers.
No release date has been announced for Very Young Frankenstein. Stay tuned to FANGORIA for more updates.
