Bat Boy Live-Action YA Series In Works At Netflix From Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa & Joe Tracz

EXCLUSIVE: Everyone’s favorite tabloid anomaly, Bat Boy, is poised to be the star of his own live-action TV series. Netflix is developing Bat Boy, a horror-comedy YA series from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Riverdale, Pretty Little Liars: Summer School) and Joe Tracz (One Piece, Dash & Lily), sources tell Deadline.

The character of Bat Boy — the half-bat, half-boy who became infamous for his cover stories in the supermarket publication Weekly World News in the 90s — was previously brought to life in the off-Broadway musical Bat Boy: The Musical which premiered in Los Angeles in 1997. That stage production has no connection to the contemporary TV reimagination, we understand.

Reps for Netflix and Warner Bros.Television declined to comment for this story.

In the series adaptation, a coming-of-age story, the titular character is a teen named Bobby Bates. With the help of fellow teens Charisma and her weird sister Olive, Bobby reenters mainstream society after living in seclusion on the outskirts in the remnants of a long-dissipated carnival. When Bobby enrolls at Cypressville High, he embarks on a journey of self-discovery while attempting to find his place among his new peers and society while trying to solve a mystery bubbling up from the Floridian swamps. All that while rocking his half-bat-like features like sharp teeth and pointy ears— oh, there’s also the small matter of his need for human blood. Think, Edward Scissorhands meets Nightmare Alley—ish.

Aguirre-Sacasa boasts credits in the YA TV series space as the creator, executive producer and showrunner of shows like the CW’s Riverdale, Netflix’s The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Max’s Pretty Little Liars: Summer School.

Tracz also brings his experience leading high-profile series for the YA crowd and beyond as co-creator and executive producer on Netflix’s Dash & Lily, co-EP and writer of the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians and executive producer/co-showrunner for the upcoming second season of the streamer’s hit One Piece, based on a popular manga.

Aguirre-Sacasa (via Muckle Man Productions and its overall deal with WBTV) and Tracz will executive produce Bat Boy alongside Jimmy Gibbons for Muckle Man Productions and Weekly World News CEO/Editor-in-Chief Greg D’Alessandro.