Actor Josh Gad has built quite a showbiz resume for himself with credits on small and large screens alike. His biggest claim to fame is undoubtedly his voice work as the snowman Olaf in Disney's smash hit feature film Frozen. He'll next try his luck back on TV with a brand new project that will be unlike anything else on the airwaves. Gad has signed on to star in and co-write an Amazon show about the behind the scenes battle between two major toy companies. It's called Toy Wars, and it's got more big names behind it.
Toy Wars will follow the story of the escalating battle between the toy companies Hasbro and Mattel. The showdowns took place in the 1980s and 1990s, and they pitted huge companies against one another in a high-stakes race to corner the toy market. Mattel's big money-maker during the period was Barbie, while Hasbro held the rights to G.I. Joe, Transformers, and My Little Pony. The project is being designed as a limited drama series for Amazon.
Based upon G. Wayne Miller's non-fiction book Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies that Make Them, the new project will reference Miller's five years of access to the behind-the-scenes workings at Hasbro. During that half decade, Miller was able to sit in on meetings and chat with employees who could give him a deep inside look into what it was like working for a toy company in the midst of the battle for toy supremacy. His book tells the tale of Hasbro exec Alan Hassenfield, who took over the company when his marketing genius brother died. There's no saying at this point just how closely Toy Wars will follow the events of G. Wayne Miller's book. If it at least sticks to most of the characters who appeared in the book, we may be able to count on versions of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas popping up.
Josh Gad is on board to executive produce in addition to his role as a writer and star, with Chuck and Gossip Girl head honcho Josh Schwartz heading things up as the showrunner. Expect major drama, folks. Writer Ryan Dixon and author G. Wayne Miller will share executive producing duties with Gad. Deadline also notes that Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon is attached to direct the pilot. Unless the team takes the story in a very creative direction, we shouldn't expect any singing snowmen out of Toy Wars, so we'll have to wait for Frozen 2 for another round of Gad in that particular role.
Toy Wars will be Josh Gad's first major TV role since the end of FX's The Comedians, which also starred Billy Crystal. That show, along with Gad's NBC comedy 1600 Penn before it, was cancelled after only one season. He also had major roles in projects like Good Vibes, Woke Up Dead, and Back to You, although none of those series lasted very long. Gad has a long list of guest star roles to his name, including appearances on Modern Family and New Girl. On the big screen, he recently voiced Chuck in The Angry Birds Movie. Gad is a busy guy, so it may be best that Toy Wars is only being designed as a one-off limited drama. He might not have been able to take part otherwise.
There's no confirmation of just when we can expect to see Toy Wars on Amazon, so check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see what you can watch on the small screen in the meantime.
