Noot noot!

If that just brought waves of childhood nostalgia crashing over you, you’re in luck – Pingu the penguin is coming back to the screen.

Created in the 1980s and first aired in 1990, the Swiss-German animated series has entertained generations of children worldwide, but apart from a Japanese adaptation that aired from 2017 to 2018, new Pingu content has been lacking.

But Mattel, which last year struck gold with Barbie, is bringing back the cheeky penguin.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mattel will team up with award-winning animation studio Aardman to co-develop a stop-motion animated Pingu television series.

The collaboration should give hardcore Pingu fans some confidence given Aardman is well known for its stop-motion animated projects, such as Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep and Wallace & Gromit.

Aardman revealed on Tuesday that Pingu would continue to find himself in “tricky and comical situations”, while meeting “the challenges of life head on along with his mom, dad, little sister Pinga, and all his friends”.

Mattel chief franchise officer Josh Silverman told The Hollywood Reporter that there was not a more perfect marriage than between Mattel and Aardman.

“We are overjoyed about the project. It’s going to be really, really special,” he said.

“Pingu just continues to, organically, have a tremendous amount of affection and attention. And a tremendous amount of relevance.”

Aardman chief creative director Sarah Cox said on Tuesday the company loved “collaborating with [intellectual property] that shares our commitment to humour, charm and great storytelling”.

She said Pingu’s comedy, which was often physical or expressed in ‘Penguinese’, transcended language barriers.

Despite lack of new Pingu content over the past few years, the character still has a strong social media presence thanks to his mischievous nature, memeable antics, and iconic “Noot!” – all of which were on full display when fans learned of the new series.

This what years of memes of Pingu lead too https://t.co/OPahz1rnCF pic.twitter.com/HYVkq5rip6

— Chris DeRose (Wants a Full time job Please) (@ScratchyDerose) October 21, 2024

A Pingu series produced by Aardman is something I never knew I needed till now https://t.co/r9NSIJb7ve pic.twitter.com/IaiWbk1x2Y

— Tinted Who (@frombwtocolor) October 21, 2024

After the record success of Barbie, Mattel has been keen to build a ‘Mattel Cinematic Universe’ by building a catalogue of “new-stalgia”-inducing films and series that resonate with both adults and children.

Current plans revolve around popular characters or toys such as Polly Pocket, Barney, Thomas & Friends, and Hot Wheels.

“I think, on the content side, we work with the best creatives who have a real connection to the [project]. We collaborate and we trust, and that’s the ingredients, in many ways, of what you saw come through with Barbie,” Silverman said.