Disney Junior will don its PJs once again. The kidcaster has ordered a sixth 52 x 11-minute season of eOne’s PJ Masks to launch globally in 2023, along with three x 44-minute feature episodes and six x half-hour specials. The new season will follow along with the show’s trio of preschool-aged superheroes as they travel the world and beyond to fight new villains. Disney Junior originally premiered PJ Masks in 2015, and the series has since been broadcast in more than 180 territories around the world.
Netflix is opening up DreamWorks Animation’s Gabby’s Dollhouse (pictured) for a second season (10 x 24 minutes) on August 10. Blues Clues alums Traci Paige Johnson and Jennifer Twomey are the creators and executive producers of this mixed-media preschool series, which stars a live-action girl who unboxes toys and enters an animated world full of friendly cats.
CBeebies has ordered a third 26 x five-minute season of preschool adventure Kiri and Lou from New Zealand-based prodco Stretchy. It’s in production now, with delivery planned for later this year. This brings the stop-motion show’s total episode count to 78 x five minutes. Kiri and Lou revolves around two dinos who explore the world and their feelings through song and adventure. CBeebies picked up season one—which premiered earlier this year—from London-based distributor CAKE in 2018.
Corus Entertainment has ordered a second season of live-action mystery The Hardy Boys from Nelvana and Lambur Productions that will air on Corus’s Canadian kids channel YTV and Hulu in the US in 2022. The new season (10 x 60 minutes) will follow the eponymous brothers as they try to solve the mystery of a missing teen. Hardy Boys season one premiered on Hulu in December 2020.
Finally, Canal+ has renewed preschool series Mush-Mush and the Mushables for a second season (50 x 11 minutes). This CG-animated adventure show that’s co-produced by Paris-based La Cabane, Belgian prodco Thuristar and CAKE in the UK centers around a community of mushrooms who learn and discover new things by using their special powers. A release date for the new episodes hasn’t been announced yet. Other broadcasters to hop on season two of Mush-Mush include VRT-Ketnet (Dutch-speaking Belgium), which is on board as a co-producer; RTBF (French-speaking Belgium); and RTS (Switzerland). The series premiered on Canal+ in October 2020, with WarnerMedia picking up season one to air on Cartoon Network and HBO Max starting this fall.