Emmy-winning Spawn creator and director/producer Todd McFarlane has announced the launch of a dedicated television development and production arm of McFarlane Films. Through McFarlane Films, which has a first-look television deal with wiip, McFarlane and his President of Television, Sean Canino, will identify and develop new emerging talent, creator-owned properties, independent brands, stories, and characters.

McFarlane Films’ initial television development slate includes projects from established creators such as Thomas Lennon, co-creator of RENO 911! and writer of Night of the Museum; Anders Weidemann, who adapted HBO’s Beartown and created Paramount +’s Interrogation; prolific graphic-novel author, Sean Lewis; and ShadowMachine, who produced BoJack Horseman and Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming Pinocchio.

In launching its new television division, McFarlane Films reveals two new premium series in development:

The first is titled McFarland, a stop-motion, animated event series created by Thomas Lennon in partnership with ShadowMachine and wiip. The project is described as Night at the Museum meets Toy Story in Twin Peaks, which will feature original McFarlane Toys. McFarlane and Lennon will executive produce the series, along with Canino and ShadowMachine.

McFarlane Films has also partnered with wiip and Epicenter to develop the live-action drama series, Thumbs, based on the best-selling graphic novel written by Sean Lewis with art by Hayden Sherman.  Anders Weidemann will adapt the project. The story follows 17-year-old Charlie “Thumbs” James, gamer and social outsider, who enters an esports tournament hoping to win a scholarship from tech billionaire Adrien Camus’ gamer academy so he can get his ticket out of his neighborhood.  “Thumbs” soon finds himself fighting real life and death battles in a covert war between Camus’ teenage army and a neo-fascist anti-tech movement that is about to take over the U.S.  Weidemann, McFarlane, and Canino will executive produce, along with Allard Cantor and Jarrod Murray through Epicenter, with Lewis on-board as a producer.

Last June, McFarlane Films announced it is developing Sam & Twitch into a live-action TV series. Inspired by the iconic characters from McFarlane’s Spawn comic, the premium drama series follows detectives Sam Burke and Max “Twitch” Williams as they fight the evils of a near-future New York City. Sam & Twitch is being adapted by executive producers Jason Smilovic and Todd Katzberg for McFarlane Films and wiip.