Quick question: Is there anyone, outside of possibly David Lynch, who genuinely likes Woody Woodpecker? Like a louder, more antagonistic Bugs Bunny—or early Daffy Duck, but without the manic charm—Walter Lanz’s unkillable creation has been around for 68 years now, harassing people, knocking on their heads, and periodically issuing that brain-meltingly annoying laugh. Every few years, Universal decides that it’s time for the Woodyssance to begin anew and revives the little hellbeast for a new generation, whether in the form of The New Woody Woodpecker Show (1999-2002), or the CGI/live-action hybrid film that came out on DVD back in February (after a theatrical release in Brazil last year, because apparently Woody is huge in Rio).
We can now add “YouTube animated webseries” to “existing” and “wasting the considerable talents of Timothy Omundson” to Woody’s list of crimes, with Decider reporting that the director of that film, Alex Zamm, will direct all 10 five-minute shorts of a new Woody Woodpecker. The series will be broadcast in English, Spanish, and, of course, Brazilian Portugeuse, and will presumably feature all your favorite Woody-adjacent characters, like Buzz Buzzard, Wally Walrus, Andy Panda, and Etc.!
Besides the new Woody shorts, Universal is also planning a documentary about the character, so that we can all better understand how we let it get to this point.