The character of Bat Boy — the half-bat, half-boy who gained notoriety for his covers in the Weekly World News supermarket magazine in the 1990s — was previously brought to life in the Off-Broadway show Bat Boy: The Musical, which premiered in Los Angeles in 1997. Sources say there is no connection between that stage production and the modern-day television adaptation.
Representatives for Netflix and Warner Bros. Television declined to comment.
The coming-of-age series centers on a teenage boy named Bobby Bates. With the help of fellow teens Charisma and her strange sister Olive, Bobby is reintegrated into society after living in seclusion on the outskirts of the remains of a long-gone carnival.
When Bobby enrolls at Cypressville High, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery as he tries to find his place among his new peers and society, and solve a mystery bubbling up from the Florida swamps. All while sporting his partial bat features, like sharp teeth and pointy ears—oh, and there’s the small matter of his need for human blood.
Aguirre-Sacasa has a track record in the young adult television series space, as creator, executive producer and showrunner of shows like The CW’s Riverdale, Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and HBO Max’s Pretty Little Liars: Summer School (formerly Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin).
Tracz also brings his experience leading strong series for young adult audiences and beyond, as co-creator and executive producer of Netflix’s Dash & Lily, co-executive producer and writer of Percy Jackson and the Olympians for Disney+, and executive producer/co-showrunner on the upcoming second season of the streamer’s hit One Piece (2023), based on the popular manga.
Aguirre-Sacasa (via Muckle Man Productions and its overall deal with WBTV) and Tracz will executive produce Bat Boy for Muckle Man Productions alongside Jimmy Gibbons and Weekly World News CEO/Editor-in-Chief Greg D’Alessandro.
