Christopher Robin: New R-Rated Series Features Classic Character Getting High to Hang With Winnie the Pooh

In the wake of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, R-rated takes on familiar characters who have entered the public domain are all the rage. Now the classic storybook series is getting yet another adaptation, this time centering on Christopher Robin.

In Christopher Robin, the titular character is a disillusioned Gen Z who escapes his drab life by getting high. Here’s the official summary, according to Variety:

Christopher Robin is a disillusioned New Yorker navigating his quarter-life crisis with the help of the weird talking animals who live beyond a drug-induced portal outside his derelict apartment complex, the Hundred Acres.

The new project will be a hybrid live-action animation series.

While it’s easy to compare Christopher Robin to its Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s slasher film, which was made with a budget of under $100,000, the new series appears to have a a bit more clout behind it. It’s in production at Boat Rocker Media and Bay Mills Studios, with Shrek 2 co-director Conrad Vernon will direct the pilot and serve as an executive producer. Foreign Relations’ Charlie Kesserling wrote the script and will also be involved in the series.

“This project takes everything you think you know about Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh and creates something completely fresh and undeniably funny,” said Shamier Anderson and Stephan James, who run Bay Mills Studios. “We’re excited to partner with Boat Rocker, [Charlie Kesserling], and [Conrad Vernon] on this journey to a truly creative space where anything is possible for these characters.”

Christopher Robin is just one of many darker and edgier takes on otherwise wholesome properties, with Rhys Frake-Waterfield also working on Bambi: The Reckoning and Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare. It doesn’t seem quite as violent, but based on the rating and the premise, it figures to be just as dark. Well, certainly darker than the similarly-titled 2018 film, in which an adult Christopher Robin rediscovers his childhood friends.

And with Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey becoming a viral sensation, there’s apt to be more on the way.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.