In the modern era of Hollywood, its of virtually no surprise when a successful film expands into an entire franchise. That usually comes in the form of sequel films, but once that has already been done the creative minds at the franchise’s helm are forced to get creative. This most logically frequently comes in the form of a leap to television with a spin-off series that builds upon the magic of the franchise’s original films, and they’re becoming more popular than ever. Take, for example, the latest spin-off series that has been officially announced: Seth MacFarlane has announced this week plans for a Ted prequel series, and promises it’ll be right up to par with its cinematic predecessors.
Ted was originally released in 2012 and stars Mark Whalberg alongside a talking stuffed teddy bear, voiced by MacFarlane himself, who together engage in a variety of humorously raunchy content. That film generated over half of a billion dollars in box offices worldwide and led to a sequel, Ted 2, being released in 2015 which raked in another $200 million with little to no effort. MacFarlane has a pretty prestigious track record when it comes to television as well as any of his fans will be familiar with, and now he is ready to return to his roots with a freshly announced Ted prequel series currently in the works. In an interview with Collider, MacFarlane expanded upon the upcoming series in length; “It’s going great. Look, it’s unprecedented to do a television series where your main character is fully generated CGI… It’s going great. It’s a prequel that takes place in 1993 and embraces that era, embraces the nineties and tracks what is essentially Ted’s adolescence, I guess. Ted and John’s adolescence.” MacFarlane is certainly excited about the prospect, and with rumors that production is ready to commence it won’t be long before we’re seeing America’s favorite teddy bear on television.
MacFarlane has a track record that speaks for itself, championing hit animated series such as Family Guy and American Dad!. It is of virtually no surprise he is electing to take one of his most esteemed works to television, and his enthusiasm is promising that fans are in for a treat. Said fans will just have to remain patient as more information emerges about the forthcoming Ted prequel series.
