Disney's new supernatural series 'The Doomies' draws from real French folklore

LOS ANGELES -- A new kid-friendly spooky series is coming to Disney+!

Inspired by movies of the '80s and '90s and real French folklore, "The Doomies" blends the supernatural with modern animation.

The show centers around the following premise. "When best friends Bobby and Romy accidentally open a portal to evil, their tranquil coastal town transforms into a hotspot for terrifying creatures of doom. As the ordinary teens navigate this extraordinary mystery, they face off against literal and inner monsters in this epic comedy that combines thrills, chills and emotional spills."

The series stars Max Mittelman as Bobby, Madison Calderon as Romy, Noel Gibson as Kim, Jon Bailey as Doug and Zehra Fazal as Jenny.

It's co-created by Andrès Fernandez, Pozla (aka Rémi Zaarour), and Henry Gifford; and Marc du Pontavice serves as producer..

On The Red Carpet spoke with Fernandez and Gifford about their inspirations, challenges and accomplishments surrounding the series.

Gifford starts the conversation by telling us, "We often joked that it's 'Evil Dead' for kids." In "The Evil Dead," a group of friends accidentally release a plethora of spirits and demons into the world, much like Bobby and Romy do in their small coastal town.

He goes on to say that there are "a lot of monsters. There's a new one every episode." His favorite is "the zombie fish," a monster found in the episode "Night of the Fishing Dead," which will be screened at the 2026 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Directing each episode is Fernandez, who explains that the most challenging part about the series was "the serialized aspect of the show. It was the first time for me to be able to tell a very long story."

When creating the story, it was the "'80s and 90s movies that are really our reference for this show, Fernandez says. "Like 'Ghostbusters,' 'The Gremlins' and even the 'Indiana Jones' type of movies."

Gifford adds that much of their inspiration also comes from local folklore. "There's a lot of local legends in France about apparitions and ghosts and other spooky things that we kind of played around with, that we've been hearing all our lives, which scared us when we were kids, but now we get to revisit it in a funnier way."

After creating 22 episodes, Gifford explains that he is the most proud of "the heart and the humor that's in the show that managed to shine through."

When it comes down to it, "this series is about the scariness of growing up and the power of friendship, I think."

Season 1 of "The Doomies" is streaming now on Disney+.

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