The recent trend of movie and TV projects forgoing traditional channels and heading straight for streaming platforms continues this morning with the news that Pee-Wee Herman's comeback movie will debut on Netflix. In the works since at least 2010, Pee-Wee's third big adventure will be produced by Judd Apatow.
Not much is yet known about the film, but last we heard it was taking a road movie format, with Pee-Wee's alter-ego Paul Reubens working on the screenplay with Paul Rust.
Should you be unaware, Herman was big news in the US in the 1980s, with the Saturday morning show Pee Wee's Playhouse running on CBS from 1986 until 1990. It was mad. Laurence Fishburn was in it. Tim Burton's Pee Wee's Big Adventure (and its non-Burton sequel Big Top Pee-Wee) followed, but then there was the unfortunate incident in the disreputable Florida movie theatre, and suddenly Reubens was no longer a children's entertainer...
In recent years though, he's been having a bit of a renaissance. There was a one-man show on Broadway; sell-out festival screenings of Big Adventure; and Pee Wee's Playhouse, The Pee-Wee Herman show and the two movies are already playing to enthusiastic audiences on Netflix, making the platform a sensible-looking home for further instalments.
"Let's face it," said Apatow when the project was first announced, "the world needs more Pee-Wee Herman. I am so excited to be working with Paul Reubens, who is an extraordinary and ground-breaking actor and writer. It's so great to watch him return with such relevance."
A Netflix spokesperson has said the deal isn't quite done yet, but it's looking pretty likely. There's no director in place either, but Reubens/Herman says he hopes to be shooting by February.