EXCLUSIVE: Here is some “truly outrageous” news: Jem And The Holograms is making a comeback. An elevated live-action take on the beloved 1980s animated series is in development at Amazon MGM Studios with Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s studio-based Kilter Films (Westworld, Fallout) producing. The project comes from Hasbro Entertainment which took it out in late 2025.
Amazon quickly emerged as the likely buyer, with Joy and Kilter’s attachment rumored from early on. It took months for that to become official and for deals to close.
Executive producing the live-action Jem and the Holograms series are Joy, Nolan and Athena Wickham for Kilter Films and Gabriel Marano for Hasbro Entertainment.
The sale to Amazon comes 41 years after the Jem And The Holograms animated series (aka Jem), created by Christy Marx, debuted in 1985. Designed to capitalize on the rise of music videos following the launch of MTV, the show followed record company owner Jerrica Benton and her alter-ego Jem, lead singer of the rock group Jem and The Holograms. It featured music videos in every episode and a slew of original songs, including the theme “Truly Outrageous.”
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During its three-season run, Jem ranked as the most watched cartoon syndicated series, outperforming such staples in the genre as Transformers and He-Man. Jem‘s popularity did not fade after the 1988 finale as it remained one of the most-watched syndicated kids’ programs throughout the 1990s, with album releases, comic book series, and JemCon, a fan-run convention now in its 20th year, keeping its legacy alive.
The IP was previously unsuccessfully rebooted with Universal/Blumhouse’s 2015 live-action movie Jem and the Holograms, directed and produced by Jon M. Chu and starring Aubrey Peeples in the title role.
Jem And The Holograms is joining Prime Video’s growing slate of female-driven YA/coming-of-age content, including recent breakout Off Campus and established hits The Summer I Turned Pretty, We Were Liars and the Culpables franchise. Kilter is co-producing one of the streamer’s highest-profile upcoming coming-of-age series, Fourth Wing, with Joy set to direct the opening episode.
Kilter Films, which has an overall deal at Amazon MGM Studios, is also behind Prime Video’s popular and critically praised post-apocalyptic drama series Fallout, which is headed to its third season.
Hasbro Entertainment’s slate includes The Forgotten Realms, a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series at Netflix with Shawn Levy producing, Baldur’s Gate, also set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons, in the works at HBO with Craig Mazin writing and executive producing, and a Power Rangers live-action series in development at Disney+.