Nelvana greenlights Magnificent animated version of Ashley Spires’ picture book

Millie Magnificent centres on a young inventor

Corus Entertainment’s children’s content studio Nelvana has commissioned Millie Magnificent, a CG animated series based on Canadian author Ashley Spires’ picture book The Most Magnificent Thing.

Production is currently underway on the 52×11’ series, which is set to be delivered in 2024.

Originally released in 2014, the book follows a young inventor and creator who perseveres through a frustrating creative process.

The book sold around 800,000 copies, was translated into 21 languages and later inspired a short film of the same name from Nelvana. A follow-up book, The Most Magnificent Idea, was released in autumn 2022.

This marks the second time Toronto-based Nelvana has worked on one of Spires’ works. The company also adapted her graphic novel Binky Adventures into the 3D animated series Agent Binky: Pets of the Universe. The show, produced by Redknot, a joint venture between Nelvana and Warner Bros Discovery, is now in its third season.

Sheila Rogerson serves as head writer on the new project, with Ruth Ramirez as series director, Jillianne Reinseth as supervising creative producer, Laurie Handforth as producer, Jelena Sisic as art director and Eva Zhou as design supervisor.

The voice cast includes Kaia Oz (Gisele’s Mashup Adventures), Ian Ho (A Simple Favor) and Tianna SwamiNathan (Paw Patrol).