Would you like them in a house? Would you like them with a mouse? How about with Tracy Morgan, Michael Douglas, and Diane Keaton? Because they’re just a few of the heavy hitters Netflix has lined up for its loony-sounding adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs And Ham, which, as we reported in 2015, will debut on the streaming service as a 13-episode series. Content, man.
If you’re wondering how producer Ellen Degeneres and creator Jared Stern (The Lego Batman Movie) are culling hours of content from a fleeting children’s book about culinary discovery, a new press release from the streamer has some answers. For one, they’re building out the ensemble. A lot. There’s also a road trip, a love story, mismatched briefcases, a “bounty hunter goat,” and an endangered animal call the Chickeraffee. Oh, and Eddie Izzard as a “tiny, evil overlord” with “a passion for collecting rare, illegal animals.” The press release describes it as “a postmodern Plains, Trains and Automobiles,” which really has us wondering who they’re expecting to watch this thing.
Here’s a synopsis:
The story of Green Eggs and Ham is like a postmodern Plains, Trains and Automobiles through the whimsical world of Dr. Seuss. Sam rescues the rare Chickeraffe from the Glurfsburg Zoo, hides it in a briefcase, and attempts to make his way to Meepville where he can charter a cold air balloon to take the Chickeraffe to his island home.
Guy just flopped his last big chance at being a world famous inventor for the industrial Snerz Co. He packs up his invention in a briefcase and resigns to give up on his dreams and become a paint watcher.
A chance meeting at a diner with Sam, and a switch up with the briefcases results in these two unlikely souls getting mixed up on an adventure that takes them on a journey of self discovery.
Our two mismatched heroes cross paths with overprotective Michellee, whose daughter, EB, desperately wants a pet, and falls madly in love with the Chickeraffe… despite her mother’s fears that it will eat off her face (it won’t). Michellee’s walled up heart also connects with the heart-hardened Guy. And a laborious love story begins.
Our fakakta foursome are also unknowingly pursued by a bounty hunter goat, two bad guys, and a villain who’s out to get the Chickeraffee as his ultimate trophy.
Guiding your moppets through this labyrinthian adaptation of a 64-page illustrated children’s book is Workaholics and Pitch Perfect star Adam Devine, who will star as the ravenous Sam-Am-I. He’ll be joined by Douglas’ skeptical “Guy-I-Am,” as well as Morgan, Ilana Glazer, Eddie Izzard, Keegan-Michael Key, Daveed Diggs, and John Turturro, who will play the aforementioned “goat bounty hunter.”
See some of the character designs below, as well as a brief teaser for the series, which is slated to premiere this fall.