Fans are in for a lot of changes when Goosebumps returns for its second season on Disney+.
The horror series, which premiered in October 2023, took inspiration from R.L. Stine‘s popular horror novels. Goosebumps was introduced as a show that followed five teenagers who had to work together after accidentally releasing supernatural forces into their small town. While trying to recapture the evil spirits, the group unlocked secrets of their parents’ pasts.
Executive producers Nicholas Stoller and Rob Letterman previously opened up to Us Weekly about their vision for the show.
“The whole idea of the show was to create a set of characters that all coexist in a town and are individually going through the storylines of the different books and then they cross paths,” Letterman detailed in November 2023. “So just by the nature of making it [a] serialized [series], we were inventing our whole world and characters. But then when we remapped it to the books, it really came down to barring the premise and the totems.”
Every ‘Goosebumps’ Books Easter Egg Featured in Disney+’s TV Adaptation
Stoller, meanwhile, broke down the decision to have multiple mysteries unfolding at once.
“The books are standalones. So as soon as we serialized it, it kind of took it a little bit away from the books. But the tone of the books was not about talking down to kids. That was something that we really wanted to make sure was in this season — that the horror aspects were happening because the characters were causing them to happen. They weren’t just victims of something.”
Goosebumps initially starred Isa Briones, Ana Yi Puig, Zack Morris, Miles McKenna and Will Price as the show’s protagonists. However, when the series was renewed four months later, Disney confirmed there would be a cast and story shakeup with Goosebumps: The Vanishing.
Keep scrolling for everything to know about Goosebumps season 2:
When Will the Show Return?
The first season aired in late 2023 and filming has since started on the second installment. Disney revealed that the entire second season is dropping on January 10.
How Will Season 2 Differ?
What Is the Plot of the Show?
According to the official logline, season 2 will introduce teenage siblings who “discover a threat stirring, triggering a chain of events that unravel a profound mystery. As they delve into the unknown, the duo find themselves entangled in the chilling tale of four teenagers who mysteriously vanished in 1994.”
The new season is inspired by books including Stay Out of the Basement, The Haunted Car, Monster Blood, The Girl Who Cried Monster, The Ghost Next Door and Welcome to Camp Nightmare.
Who Else Was Cast in ‘Goosebumps’?
David Schwimmer has been cast to play Anthony, who is a “former botany professor and divorced parent of teenage twins whose world takes a tumultuous turn as he juggles the responsibilities of overseeing an aging parent while having his kids for the summer.”
In May 2024, Schwimmer told Deadline what fans can expect from his character, adding, “I play a botanist who’s kind of taken a sabbatical to take care of his mom, who’s unwell, and I’m a divorced dad of these fraternal twins, 17-year-old twins who kind of get really entangled in unearthing this devastating, this traumatic event that happened to both of us, me, it happened to my older brother when I was very young.”
He continued: “So something that happened 30 years ago, this really tragic mystery is suddenly coming back to haunt us and pull us back together in a way that we are both kind of not happy with. But it’s also really funny. And because my character’s a botanist, I can say that some of the mystery has to do with a plant-like form of life.”
The actor gushed over his time on set. “This is one of my absolute favorite genres,” Schwimmer said. “And I’ve never had the opportunity to act in this, so doing horror action-comedy has just been an absolute treat.”
Ana Ortiz, Sam McCarthy, Jayden Bartels, Elijah Cooper, Galilea La Salvia and Francesca Noel will star in the second season as well. The cast is rounded out by Arjun Athalye, Eloise Payet, Christopher Paul Richards, Kyra Tantao, Stony Blyden and Sakina Jaffrey.
What Books Will the Second Season Take Inspiration From?
Based on the description of Schwimmer’s character, one of the books explored in season 2 would be Stay Out of the Basement. The novel focused on a doctor — and father of two — who did plant-testing in his basement. However, his kids quickly started to question how harmless the plants were when their father developed plantlike tendencies.
Goosebumps has previously referenced books such as Welcome to Dead House, Say Cheese and Die!, The Haunted Mask, The Cuckoo Clock of Doom, Go Eat Worms!, Night of the Living Dummy, You Can’t Scare Me! and Welcome to Horrorland.
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How Involved in the Show Is Author R.L. Stine?
According to executive producers Conor Welch and Pavun Shetty, Stine gave the Disney+ show his stamp of approval.
“Getting an email from R.L. Stine after he watched the pilot saying he was thrilled with what we had done with his property was a true career highlight,” Welch told Us in October 2023. “He was just always in the back of our mind. The bar was so high. So even though he wasn’t in the writers room with us, his presence was certainly looming.”
He continued: “We just knew that we had to elevate the material. We had to make fans of the book thrilled that we were doing what we’re doing when we’re doing it and not retreading stuff that had already been done. I think just [Stine’s] looming presence was enough motivation to make sure that we were reaching the heights that we hoped to.”
What Is the Vision for Season 2?
