The Spiderwick Chronicles (TV series)

The Spiderwick Chronicles is an American fantasy television series loosely based on the book series of the same name by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. The series stars Joy Bryant, Noah Cottrell, Lyon Daniels, Mychala Lee, Jack Dylan Grazer and Christian Slater, and follows the Grace family, who move into their ancestral home and unravel a dark mystery about their great-uncle, who discovered the parallel and secret world of fairies.

The Spiderwick Chronicles consists of eight episodes and premiered on the Roku Channel on April 19, 2024, to mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its visuals and Slater's performance, but some criticism for its writing, pacing, character development and deviations from the source material.

Premise
Helen and her children, 15-year-old fraternal twins Jared and Simon and their sister Mallory move to their ancestral home, Spiderwick. Jared discovers a boggart and realizes that magical creatures are real. The only one to believe him is his great-aunt Lucinda who implores Jared to find the pages of her father's field guide to magical creatures and protect them from the murderous Ogre, Mulgarath.

Main

 * Lyon Daniels as Jared Grace
 * Noah Cottrell as Simon Grace
 * Mychala Lee as Mallory Grace
 * Joy Bryant as Helen Grace
 * Jack Dylan Grazer as Thimbletack
 * Christian Slater as Mulgarath

Recurring

 * Momona Tamada as Emiko
 * Alyvia Alyn Lind as Calliope
 * Hunter Dillon as Hatcher
 * Charlayne Woodard as Lucinda Spiderwick
 * Albert Jones as Arthur Spiderwick
 * Aria Mia Loberti as Valentina
 * Mellany Barros as Bree Kent
 * Dylan Bruce as Tanner Kent
 * Arlene Duncan as Melvina

Development
On November 12, 2021, it was announced that a television adaptation was in development for Disney+, with Aron Eli Coleite serving as writer and showrunner. The series would be a co-production between Paramount Television Studios (whose film division distributed the 2008 feature-length adaptation of the books) and 20th Television. Work on the series began by February 2022. In May 2022, Kat Coiro joined as an executive producer and director for the first two episodes. Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, authors of The Spiderwick Chronicles were also credited as executive producers.

Writing
For the television adaptation, Coilete, DiTerlizzi and Black gave the antagonistic Mulgarath a greater role in the story by having him manipulate the Grace family in the guise of Jared's therapist. Regarding the novels' original plot of the protagonists guarding Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide from Mulgarath as tiresome, the producers came up with the idea of Jared, Simon and their friends embarking on a quest to recover the missing pages of the book across the first season's eight episodes. According to Coilete, DiTerlizzi and Black also convinced him to replace Mulgarath's goblin henchmen with an original character named Calliope, who would serve as someone who could interact with both Mulgarath and the human characters. Black based Calliope on Fetches, supernatural doubles who are associated with death in Irish folklore. According to Coilete, the producers regarded Calliope as a conflicted character torn between her loyalty to Mulgarath and her relationship with Simon rather than a clear-cut villain.

Coilete, DiTerlizzi and Black also wanted each of the Grace siblings to undergo a hero's journey. A key theme of Mallory Grace's journey involved her shifting from the selfish priorities of wanting to leave her family to embracing the heroic role of protecting her family. According to Coilete, the first season's cliffhanger ending and the set design of the Spiderwick estate was designed to lay the groundwork for a potential second season.

Casting
Christian Slater joined the cast as Mulgarath in August 2022. He is reportedly set to appear only through the first season. While he was reportedly set to appear only through the first season, Coilete subsequently confirmed in April 2024 that Mulgarath could appear in a potential second season, which would explore his farther plans. Later in August 2022, Lyon Daniels and Noah Cottrell were added to the cast as Jared and Simon Grace. On August 30, Joy Bryant joined the cast as Helen Grace. Mychala Lee joined as Mallory Grace in mid-September. Other notable cast members included Jack Dylan Grazer as Thimbletack and Alyvia Alyn Lind as Calliope.

Filming
Principal photography began on September 12, 2022, in Vancouver, Canada, and was scheduled to conclude on January 27, 2023.

Release
The series was released in its entirety on April 19, 2024, on the Roku Channel, consisting of eight episodes. It was previously set to release on Disney+ consisting of six episodes, however in August 2023, Deadline reported that the series was no longer moving forward at Disney+ due to cost-cutting reasons, despite having been already completed, and would be shopped to other networks. In October 2023, Roku had picked up the U.S. exclusive rights to the series. According to showrunner Coleite, Roku was generally happy with the series and made no changes apart from adding a primer at the opening explaining the series.

In New Zealand, the series was released on TVNZ's streaming service TVNZ+.

By late April 2024, Roku reported that the Spiderwick Chronicles was the most watched title in the platform's history. While Roku did not provided viewership figures, it claimed that millions had watched the series during its opening weekend.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 45% of 11 critics gave the series a positive review, with an average rating of 4.6/10, earning it a "Rotten" score. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 48 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Arezou Amin of Collider gave the series a positive review, awarding the series 7 out of 10 stars. She praised the showrunners' decision to do away with the episodic format of the source material in favour of serialized storytelling, which made it easier for viewer unfamiliar with the original novels. Amin also praised the performance of the cast members particularly Christian Slater and Joy Bryant as Mulgarath and Helen Grace. She also praised the series' character development of the three Grace siblings and the incorporation of their sibling dynamics into the main story plot. However, Amin was also critical of the drawn-out nature of the Grace family conflict. She described the show's visual effects as "remarkable and realistic." Amin also observed that the series chose to emphasize horror over its fantasy elements, but criticised the inconsistent tone of the horror elements throughout the series.

Caroline Siede of The Daily Beast gave the series a critical review, criticizing the series for downplaying the fantasy elements of the source material in favor of contemporary issues such as teenage mental health struggles and family drama. Siede observed the lack of fantasy adventure elements such as fairies and goblins, which she attributed to budgetary restrictions rather than artistic choice. While critical of the series' fractured subplots, she praised the performances of Slater and Woodard.

Aramide Tinubu of Variety gave a predominantly critical review, stating that it "lacks the excitement and adventure" of the source material. While she praised the TV series adaptation for highlighting teenage issues such as dark thoughts, ostracization and perfectionism, she criticized its stalled story spacing, humdrum tone and the "unimaginative and lackluster" fantasy elements. Tinubu was also critical of the showrunners' decision to age the Grace brothers from preteens to teenagers but praised the series for exploring the dynamics between the Grace siblings and Alyvia Alyn Lind's character Calliope.

Emma Stefansky of IGN gave a critical review, stating that "this updated version of the beloved book series only captures traces of the magic." She was critical of the showrunners' decision to age up the main protagonists into teenagers and to de-emphasize the fantasy elements in favor of focusing on real-world issues such as absentee parents, dead relatives, and mental issues. However, Stefansky praised the incorporation of both modern American and international cultural references not found in the source material such as plantations, redlining, South American Manchineel trees, Nazar amulets, and Native American Wendigos.