Ayo Edebiri has signed on to write a new live-action Barney film, and is in talks to star in the project as well.
The film will be produced by A24 and Daniel Kaluuya’s 59% productions, along with Mattel Films, who recently developed Barbie. Per Variety, Kaluuya will serve as an executive producer but will not star in the film, and plot details remain unknown.
The project was first announced in 2019, nine years after Barney & Friends wrapped its original 14 season run. Mattel’s Robbie Brenner expressed excitement to have Kaluuya in the fold, saying that the studio could take a “completely new approach to Barney that will surprise audiences and subvert expectations.”
Back in 2023, the film was rumored to have an “A24-type” approach with a “surrealist” edge, but Mattel have since backtracked on the claim. Mattel is also behind the new CGI reboot of Barney that arrived on Max in October 2024, and told Variety that the new live-action film’s plot would differ from the animated series.
Edebiri has continued her hot streak into 2025, directing the music video for Clairo’s “Terrapin” and starring in A24’s upcoming psychological horror film, Opus, which arrives in April.
Barney isn’t the only nostalgic property that Mattel is making a movie out of. They’re also producing a live-action View-Master film, a new movie centered on the American Girl Dolls, and a JJ Abrams-directed Hot Wheels movie.