Forest Whitaker, Thomasin McKenzie, Vera Farmiga Lead Voice Cast for BRON’s ‘Gossamer’ Adaptation (EXCLUSIVE)

Forest Whitaker, Thomasin McKenzie, Vera Farmiga and Richard E. Grant will lead the voice cast for “Gossamer,” an animated series adaptation of Lois Lowry’s novel.

The eight-part, half-hour animated series is produced by BRON Media’s virtual production and service company BRON Digital, which develops premium animation, interactive games and movies using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.

Rounding out the cast for “Gossamer” is  Wilmer Valderrama, Alanna Masterson and Courtney Rosemont, who makes her debut.

“Gossamer” is based on the young adult novel by Lowry, whose books include “The Giver” and “The Willoughbys” — the latter of which was previously adapted by BRON as an animated feature for Netflix.

Written by Crystal Meers, and directed by Azazel Jacobs and Heidi Bivens, “Gossamer” takes children and adults on a journey through the world of dreams and nightmares.

The show centers on Littlest One, who is an in-training Gossamer, a fairy who is a dream giver. Each night she and her teacher, Bertrand, visit Vera, a human selected for dream receiving. For a Gossamer, part of dream giving is also gathering “fragments,” which are memories that lie within important objects in a Gossamer’s human counterpart. Once gathered, these fragments, are used to make fantastical dreams. When Vera takes in Frankie, a foster child with a troubled and complex past, Littlest One is poised to help Frankie find happiness through her dreams, but her spontaneous and sometimes reckless approach to dream-weaving, opens up a darkness within Frankie.

Jason Chen, executive VP of BRON Digital, said: “We are extremely excited to bring yet another one of Lois Lowry’s properties to life. ‘Gossamer’ is not only a reimagining of the fairy genre but a real story about relationships and trust. By using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine as the backbone for creating our vast and immersive worlds, creative and technology have never been so effectively woven together. Our BRON Digital teams across the globe, paired with an incredible voice cast and the direction of Heidi and Aza, have truly taken words from the page and have translated them into a stunning movie-series that new audiences will want to escape back into time and time again.”

“Gossamer” will be powered by Unreal Engine, which enables an international team of artists across multiple disciplines to collaborate in real-time with an accelerated timeline and repurpose the digital animated assets such as characters, environments, props and tools to create online worlds, communities and interactive games.

Miles Perkins, Unreal Engine business director for media and entertainment, added: “BRON Digital has been a pioneering force in real-time animation workflows. Using Unreal Engine for ‘Fables,’ and now for ‘Gossamer,’ BRON is transforming production pipelines, taking advantage of the creative freedom to approach animation just as they would for any other project, animated or live-action. BRON is empowering a diverse range of storytellers who are bringing new ideas to the market and delivering some of the most awe-inspiring animation projects to date.”

Grammy-winning artist and producer Timbaland and his long-time business partner Gary Marella, the co-founders of Beatclub, are executive music supervisors on the series and will provide music for “Gossamer” from Beatclub artists, producers and songwriters.

The series is executive produced by Aaron L. Gilbert, Brenda Gilbert, Ashley Levinson and Kevin Turen. It is produced by Chen and associate produced by Monifa Andrew, with Creative Wealth Media’s Jason Cloth, Suraj Maraboyina and Richard McConnell serving as associate producers.

Founded in 2010 by Aaron L. Gilbert and Brenda Gilbert, BRON has a number of divisions, including TV (Irish crime drama “Kin”) and BRON Life, a non-scripted division focused on filmmaker-driven documentaries and series that make a social impact. Meanwhile, BRON’s recent film releases include “Licorice Pizza” from Paul Thomas Anderson, “Respect” with Jennifer Hudson, Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” and Jason Reitman’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.” Headquartered in Vancouver, the company has offices in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto, and companies in the U.K. and New Zealand.

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