Gargoyles creator still stumping for revival: 'I’ve got a timeline for the show that’s 315 pages long'

Gargoyles, the groundbreaking '90s Disney animated series, is a touchstone for nostalgic genre fans remembering how they made the jump from Saturday morning cartoon to bonafide quality serialized TV. The Shakespearean show from creator Greg Weisman bridged the gap between animated silliness and the coming Golden Age of prestige TV with a stellar cast, dark animation, and highbrow reference points in its writing. The cult it cultivated was large and devout. With the show now streaming in its entirety on Disney+, Weisman is interested in what happens down the road as more and more fans are converted — and he's got his eyes on a revival.

Weisman has been stumping for fans to binge the show since it arrived on the streamer last year, with his justification being the more people that watched the show, the more Disney knew there was still interest in the property. Speaking to Polygon recently, Weisman doubled-down on this, and explained what kind of preparation he's been doing just in case Disney gives an unexpected greenlight.

While the creator notes that he doesn't own the show and doesn't "get a dime off of it being on Disney Plus," it's still his baby. Despite the show ending decades ago and Weisman moving on to similarly acclaimed animated projects like Star Wars Rebels, he's still got plenty of Gargoyles stories to explore in his back pocket. Weisman explained that the show's streaming availability "represents a chance — even if it’s a slim chance — to bring it back."

"I’ve always wanted to do more," the creator said. "I’ve got a timeline for the show that’s 315 pages long. I’ve got notebooks and comp books full of ideas for it. Spin-off notions and all sorts of things. Literally nothing would make me happier than to go back and do more Gargoyles."

Weisman has long had a collection of ideas for where Gargoyles could go in the future, but if Disney does somehow bring it back, that decision likely won't be up to him. "If I really had my first choice, I’d be like, 'More than anything else, I just want to take Gargoyles and pick up where it left off, set in 1997, and do this period piece,'" he explained. "But odds are, any discussion along those lines would have parameters: Walt Disney Television Animation or whoever would be like, 'Hey, this is what we’re doing.' Or 'This is what we’re interested in.'" 

That could mean a future-set version (Gargoyles 2198) or TimeDancer, a spin-off focusing on the character Brooklyn, but most likely means taking things back to the start with a new twist. "But my guess is that we’d wind up just doing more of the show," Weisman said. "And frankly, my guess is that they’d want to reboot it, just as they’ve done with Duck Tales, to great success and great effect. And that’s not my first choice. I’m not saying I’d refuse, but I’m really proud of the work we did, and I don’t think it needs a reboot. I just think we’d like to make more."