Explorer and Primetime Emmy-winnerBear Gryllsis getting his very own prequel! According to an exclusive report fromVariety, the TV personality, best known for his Emmy-nominated survival seriesMan Vs. Wild, will be facing down a challenge he’s never tackled before: providing the voice for his 14-year-old self in an animated movie titledBear Grylls Young Adventurer:Endangered.
Grylls' animated coming-of-age tale will chronicle his life’s story from the age of 14, taking fans along for an all-new adventure.Endangeredfollows a teenage boy who exchanges “his school classroom for the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra,” showing how the former British soldier discovered his passion for exploration and pushing his own boundaries. In the animated film, the young Grylls suddenly finds himself face-to-face with danger and excitement when he becomes a brand-new recruit for a top-secret, kids-only rescue organization aptly called Secret Ops Squad. Through his new found-family team of five fearless teens, Grylls' film will highlight environmental issues “like deforestation and species extinction” as they travel the globe.
Grylls reflects on the way the movie interprets his formative years:
“The goal with this movie was always to make the ultimate animated adventure, brimming with courage, kindness and a never-give-up spirit. This is the sort of stuff that I was hooked on as a kid — jungle missions, getting into endless scrapes and adventures with my best buddies and trying to save and protect the world in the process! ‘Endangered’ has it all and it is incredible to see how the team have taken a young Bear Grylls and crafted this into such an inspiring, positive, fun adventure.”
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While some of the animated movie may seem like a kid’s action-packed adventure dream-come-true, the high intensity lifestyle isn’t too far off the mark. Grylls trained at a very early age in martial arts before spending three years in the British Special Forces. It was there that he mastered many of the skills fans see him utilize in histelevision shows. Those show credits include seven seasons of Discovery Channel’sMan Vs. Wild; six seasons ofRunning Wild with Bear Grylls, which featured celebrity guests like former PresidentBarack Obama,Will Ferrell,Kate Winslet,Julia Robertsand more; an interactive, Emmy-nominated series on Netflix titledYou Vs. Wild, which led to Grylls' team-up with Netflix to produce one of the streamer’s most-watched moviesAnimals on the Loose.Endangeredwill be Grylls' first venture into the animated universe, extending his undeniably inspiring reach to an even wider audience.
Joining Grylls on his animated escapades will beBen Bailey Smith(Persuasion) as Ty,Sean Teale(Little Voice) as Toro,Rae Lim(Four Weddings and a Funeral) as Mei andKevin Eldon(Game of Thrones).
From the production company that brought us 2019’sThe Addams FamilyandGhostbusters: Afterlife, Bron Studios is partnering with Platinum Files and Bear Grylls Adventures to produceEndangered. The series is directed by Nigel Stone, with an opening sequence by Luke Bradford.
Endangered has no release date as of yet, but you can check out the teaser trailer below:
