‘Lost Ollie’ First Look: Meet the Adorable Ragdoll in the New Netflix Series from ‘Spider-Verse’ Director Peter Ramsey

Director Peter Ramsey was one of the three filmmakers who brought us the innovative and electrifying Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. However, he’s stepping outside of the world of comics for a live-action/computer animated hybrid series at Netflix called Lost Ollie, based on William Joyce’s children’s book Ollie’s Odyssey. The story follows a ragdoll searching for the boy who lost him, and Netflix has just released a first look photo at the adorable title character.

Lost Ollie First Look Photo

Though Ollie himself will be a digital character created by Industrial Light & Magic, the series is live-action. If the synopsis is any indicator, it sounds like there will be some other computer generated characters appearing as well. Here’s the official synopsis:

In the secret realm of toys, there are many mysteries. There is the Code of the Toys, which is as ancient as childhood. There’s also the magic of becoming a child’s favorite, the highest honor in the Toy World.

Made by hand by Billy’s mother, Ollie is a special toy, “a toy who will matter.” He becomes Billy’s best friend, confidant, pal, and yes, Billy’s “favorite.” But there are villains in the Toy World, and Zozo, the clown king, is the most feared. He and his toy henchman (the Creeps) have sworn to steal and imprison favorite toys until they forget their children and become forever lost.

When Ollie is toynapped, Billy must rescue his beloved favorite from Zozo’s subterranean lair in the old Carnival Place, past the park, through the woods, and into the night.

The look of Ollie has been made to be a little more adorable than how he appears in the book’s illustrations. The drawings inside the book are a little more Tim Burton-esque, though not as twisted. You can get a glimpse of some of the other characters from various illustrations lying around the internet.

In addition to directing, Ramsey is also executive producing along with Shawn Levy and Josh Barry through their 21 Laps Entertainment banner. Also serving as executive producer will be Flight School Studio chief creative officer Brandon Oldenburg and Lampton Enochs. Writing the script will be Shannon Tindle, who wrote the story for Kubo and the Two Strings, in addition to being in charge of character design for the LAIKA stop-motion animated film.

This isn’t the first time Ramsey has adapted one of William Joyce’s books. He also directed the underrated Rise of the Guardians, the holiday-themed DreamWorks Animation movie based on The Guardians of Childhood. If he can bring the same imaginative flair that made Rise of the Guardians charming and exciting, then this should be a fantastic toy adventure.

Teddy Biaselli, Netflix’s director of young adult and family series, wrote in a blog post:

“Lost Ollie’ is truly an odyssey about two friends trying to reunite in the face of all the dangers that childhood can throw at them. I love this show because it taps into that well of emotion we all feel when we lose something or someone important to us, and the courage we have to find in ourselves to get it back, or to move on.”

After a year like 2020, I think we could all use a series like this. It’s not clear when this show is supposed to debut, but we’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available.

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