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The Nimona movie is finally coming in 2023

The Nimona movie is finally coming in 2023

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Thank Annapurna Pictures and Netflix

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Key art for Netflix’s upcoming Nimona.
Key art for Netflix’s upcoming Nimona.
Annapurna Pictures/Netflix

Though it once seemed like the animated adaptation of ND Stevenson’s Nimona might end up being stuck in production hell, Annapurna Pictures and Netflix are stepping in to make sure that’s not the case.

When Disney acquired 21st Century Fox back in 2019, it also gained ownership of Blue Sky Studios, the animation house behind the Ice Age movies and the previously announced Nimona adaptation. While Disney could have decided to complete Blue Sky Studios’ already in-progress projects like Nimona, the larger company ultimately decided to shutter the studio, leaving 450 employees without jobs and the movie’s future in jeopardy.

Today, ND Stevenson took to their Twitter to announce that, after a few setbacks, Nimona — now an Annapurna Pictures production — is finally back on track and set to debut on Netflix sometime in 2023.

Netflix’s Nimona tells the story of how shapeshifting teen Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz) becomes the one person who can save the life of a knight named Blackheart (Riz Ahmed) after he’s falsely accused of committing a crime. Back when it was still under Blue Sky Studios, Nimona was poised to become Disney’s first animated movie featuring multiple queer lead characters and a same-sex kiss. Though this would have made Nimona a historic Disney production, the studio reportedly pressured animators to remove the kiss from internal presentations about the project, potentially endangering its chances of making it into the final cut.

Considering Stevenson’s track record with Netflix, it’s likely this version of the movie’s going to be much more in line with the source material’s take on its characters’ relationships and Nimona’s ideas about the mutability of identity, which is probably going to make it a far better story.