Once Upon a Time creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have been tapped as executive producers/showrunners of Steven Spielberg‘s Amazing Stories series reboot for Apple. Additionally, the duo, whose ABC fairytale drama Once Upon a Time just wrapped its seven-season run on ABC, recently signed a new four-year extension to their overall deal with Once producer ABC Studios, which will keep them exclusive to the studio in all areas — broadcast, cable and streaming — through 2022.
Lost alums Kitsis and Horowitz, who have projects in development at ABC Studios, have been loaned out by the studio to work on Amazing Stories, one of the the first original scripted series ordered by Apple. They succeed original writer/showrunner Bryan Fuller and his No.2 Hart Hanson who exited the series earlier this year over creative differences.
Reimagining the anthology from Spielberg, Amazing Stories, from Universal TV and Amblin Television, “will transport the audience to worlds of wonder through the lens of today’s most imaginative filmmakers, directors and writers.” Kitsis and Horowitz will pen the adaptation and will executive produce with Amblin TV’s Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey.
The original Spielberg-produced Amazing Stories, which aired on NBC, did not attract a wide enough audience and was canceled following its initial two-season order (1985-1987), but it developed a devoted cult following. The series won five Emmys during its run, including one for guest actor John Lithgow, and earned Spielberg a directing nom for the memorable World War II-themed episode “The Mission.”
Kitsis and Horowitz’s partnership began in their Introduction to Film class at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. After successfully nabbing a B-minus on their first collaboration, they decided to take on Hollywood, and following graduation, moved to Los Angeles to pursue their writing careers. After cutting their teeth on such shows as Popular, co-created by Ryan Murphy, and Felicity, co-created by J.J. Abrams, they joined the writing staff of Abrams’ Lost during its first year. In 2006, the duo shared a WGA Award with the rest of the genre drama’s writers. For the final two seasons of the show Kitsis and Horowitz served as executive producers, while simultaneously writing the feature film Tron: Legacy and creating the animated television series Tron: Uprising for Disney XD.
Kitsis and Horowitz went on to create and run ABC’s Once Upon a Time and spinoff series Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, and they also co-created the Freeform summer camp thriller Dead of Summer with Ian B. Goldberg. They are repped by WME and attorney Jared Levine.
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