Today is an especially spooky day for two reasons: It’s Goosebumps creator R.L. Stine’s birthday (congrats on another slimy trip around the sun, Bob!) and a new season of the Disney+/Hulu Goosebumps show has been revealed, paired with a rapidly approaching release date: Friday, January 10, 2025. All eight episodes will go live at the same time, unlike the previous season.
Goosebumps: The Vanishing is the official title for the upcoming entry in last year’s rebooted TV show, which was loosely based on the best-selling middle grade horror book series. Once again, the project is being developed by Nicholas Stoller and Rob Letterman, as well as showrunner Hilary Winston. I interviewed the former pair last year, and seeing as how I thoroughly enjoyed the first season, I’m glad to hear they’re back to further develop this growing eerie anthology.
The gist? All new characters. All new narrative. More small town fright, assumingly. Check out the fresh teaser below:
David Schwimmer, who stars alongside Ana Ortiz in The Vanishing, plays Anthony Brewer, “a former botany professor who has immersed himself in science and mystery.” This feels like a direct reference to one of the earliest Goosebumps books, the second entry back in 1992 to be exact, and it’s been confirmed as such:
“The new season draws on elements from some of the most popular books, including ‘Stay Out of the Basement,’ ‘The Haunted Car,’ ‘Monster Blood,’ ‘The Girl Who Cried Monster,’ ‘The Ghost Next Door,’ ‘Welcome to Camp Nightmare’ and more.”
I think Stay out of the Basement is one of the strongest Goosebumps books, so it will be interesting to see how Stoller and Letterman bring that one into the fold—it seems like it will play a major role. Furthermore, a lot of these books are what you might consider deep cuts in the Goosebumps world, especially stuff like The Girl Who Cried Monster and The Ghost Next Door. These don’t get mentioned very often, so it’s cool to see they’re being included here.
Also of note is The Haunted Car, because it’s a Goosebumps 2000 series story, and that wasn’t published until 1999, long after the original series had concluded. Monster Blood is the most obvious choice, simply because it’s a mainstay of the franchise and received numerous sequels. Welcome to Camp Nightmare is actually one of my favorites and has a nice twist ending, classic Stine. I always loved the camp stories for some reason, including Ghost Camp and The Horror at Camp Jellyjam.
Here’s the brief synopsis for the new season, just so we know what we’re in for:
“Goosebumps: The Vanishing begins when twins Cece and Devin Brewer are sent to spend a summer in Gravesend, Brooklyn, with their divorced dad. A threat is stirring, and they quickly realize that dark secrets are among them, triggering a chain of events that unravel a profound mystery. As they delve into the unknown, Cece, Devin and their friends — Alex, CJ and Frankie — find themselves entangled in the chilling tale of four teenagers who mysteriously vanished in 1994.
Ah, a divorced dad script, something we’d have never seen in the original Goosebumps books. Which is all well and good, really, because last year’s reboot was never about staying note-for-note faithful to the G-rated ‘90s manuscripts, necessarily. It was about modernizing the series, taking it in a slightly more mature direction. And if you watched last season, you’ll know all of Stine’s kid-friendly rules went out the haunted window, as it were. These were characters with real-life problems, and I anticipate the second season will follow suit.
Despite some arguably uneven and occasionally cheesy writing, I had fun with Stoller and Letterman’s darker take on Goosebumps, and judging from the cryptic teaser trailer, I think we’re in for another twisted-yet-wacky ride in season two. “It’s for the greater good,” deadpans Schwimmer’s tortured character, and his impressively creepy delivery gives me some Halloween hope. Will Schwimmer abandon his famous comedy chops and top Justin Long’s excellent performance in the first season? We’ll see. I almost made a ‘pivot!’ joke, but I won’t. I’m a professional.
It’s just a shame we’ll have to wait until the new year for another dose of (somewhat) safe scares. The countdown begins. At least we can celebrate R.L.’s birthday in the meantime, perhaps with some Crypt Cake and Poltergeist Punch? Bob, out of respect, I won’t write what age you are. I’ll only say it rhyme’s with smeighty-shwun.
