Harriet The Spy is an iconic work of children’s literature and the Michelle Trachtenberg/Rosie O’Donnell movie is a (slightly less) iconic piece of ‘90s kid VHS culture, and now Apple TV+ is getting ready to bolster its kid-friendly options with the first-ever animated adaptation of Louise Fitzhugh’s 1964 novel.
Apple’s Harriet The Spy comes from The Jim Henson Company and is written by The Adventures Of Pete & Pete’s Will McRobb, and it stars Beanie Feldstein as Harriet, Jane Lynch as her hugely influential nanny Ole Golly, and Lacey Chabert has Harriet’s nemesis Marion Hawthorne.
Like the original book, this animated series is about Harriet, a young girl living in ‘60s New York who wants to be a writer. On the advice of her nanny, she starts a journal where she keeps track of everything her classmates and neighbors do along with her thoughts about them.
The animated series appears to be a little more wacky and upbeat than the book, which is partially about Harriet’s “spy” actions being discovered and everyone getting mad at her, but you can’t spoil the whole plot in a trailer. Anyway, the cat tail mustaches bit is very fun, and the gag with Harriet hiding her face behind a magazine that has eyes on it that look exactly like her eyes is always a phenomenal joke.
The first five episodes of the 10-episode series will premiere on Apple TV+ on November 19. The other five will premiere at some point in spring of 2022, which seems to indicate that this will cover the story of the book rather than just expanding the premise into a whole TV show. The series will also feature an original theme song written and performed by Courtney Barnett, which is available now as a single. The rest of the cast includes Kimberly Brooks, Crispin Freeman, Grey Griffin, Bumper Robinson, and Charlie Schlatter.
