The #1 New York Times bestselling series The Spiderwick Chronicles has been adapted once again, this time as a streaming series. Since it follows a 2008 movie version, there’s of course sure to be comparisons among fans between the two. When CinemaBlend spoke to the show’s new Thimbletack actor, Jack Dylan Grazer, he shared his take on following Martin Short’s performance in the same role.
Thimbletack is a key creature in The Spiderwick Chronicles’ who regularly interacts with the Grace children following them moving into the Spiderwick estate and learning about an invisible world full of mythical creatures. When speaking to Jack Dylan Grazer about whether he watched the 2008 movie before putting his own fingerprint on the franchise, here’s what he told us:
Yeah, I did. And I love the movie. I love Martin Short. I think I liked his better honestly. But, apparently some people like mine better, so it’s a tossup. I don’t know. I love Martin Short, but I tried going in there and doing sort of that thing, like a more groggily, kind of a critter sort of voice. And they were like, no, he is a teenager. I went in there doing a pirate leprechaun thing and they’re like, no, don’t do this. Except for maybe some of my growly stuff, which is my specialty. Just doing all sorts of little [growls].
Martin Short is a national treasure in the world of comedy (even if not everyone agrees), so obviously he’s not the easiest actor to follow when it comes to reimagining a role. According to Grazer, who memorably played Eddie Kaspbrak in IT and Freddy Freeman in the Shazam! movies, he originally went into the vocal booth ready to do a version of Thimbletack that was closer to Short’s version. However, in this take of the series, they decided to make Thimbletack a teenager, so he threw that out pretty quickly. As you can see by the below side-by-side, the two Thimbletacks are rather different:
This version of The Spiderwick Chronicles is executive produced by the original authors of the series, Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, but does take some liberties to update the books for television and two decades following the book’s original publication. Along with Jack Dylan Grazer voicing the role of Thimbletack, Christian Slater stars as Mulgarath and Joy Bryant plays the mother of the Grace children who are played by Lyon Daniels, Noah Cottrell, and Mychala Lee.
The Spiderwick Chronicles series was originally produced to go on Disney+ before the streaming service decided to no longer move forward with it, which didn’t make a ton of sense because at that point it had already been filmed. A few months later, Roku rescued the series from its place in the invisible world. You can watch the entire first season of The Spiderwick Chronicles now for free on The Roku Channel. And check out what other 2024 TV premieres are heading to streaming and cable next here on CinemaBlend.