Smurftacular! Nickelodeon drops 'The Smurfs' teaser, sets release date for first new series in 40 years

After nearly 40 years, the Smurfs are returning to television yet again. The lovable little blue creatures created by Belgian artist Pierre "Peyo" Culliford finally have another animated series –– titled The Smurfs, naturally –– that'll tell new stories featuring the classic characters on Nickelodeon. The series comes as the network is stacking up on fan-favorite franchises, such as Kamp Koral, a spinoff to the eternal Spongebob Squarepants series, and the upcoming Star Trek Prodigy.

Debuting in 1958 in the pages of Franco-Belgian magazine Spirou, the titular Smurfs are a race of small, blue, humanoidish things who fill in typical archetypes such as intelligence ("Brainy Smurf"), laziness ("Lazy Smurf"), or grouchiness ("Grouchy Smurf"). They get into all sorts of adventures, usually while trying to avoid getting captured by Gargamel, a human wizard obsessed with turning them into gold. Typically, the Smurfs have resided in the realm of animation, most notably in NBC's 1981-1989 cartoon, The Smurfs.

Check out the new teaser:

Previously announced in 2020, the new series comes from Belgian studio Depuis Audiovisuel. All the Smurfs that folks most likely remember from their childhoods, from Papa Smurf and Brainy to Smurfette and Clumsy, are back. The new addition comes in the form of Willow, who leads a tribe of girl Smurfs. Like most of the network's cartoons, each episode will come in a pair of 13-minute blocks: the premiere episode, "Smurf-Fu," will be about Brainy wanting to learn "Smurf-Fu" from Smurfette so he can defend himself, and "Diaper Daddy," which finds Handy inventing a robot to change Baby Smurf's diapers so no one else has to. 

Last time we saw the Smurfs, they were in a trio of movies that released throughout the 2010s. The first two films, which were a hybrid of live action and CG, went on to make a combined $911 million globally. In 2017, a fully animated reboot was released, grossing $197.2 million. 

Nickelodeon's CG-animated The Smurfs series hits the network Friday, Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT. Expect new episodes on a weekly basis. No word yet on when (or if) we can also expect Hefty Smurf to show up in that upcoming Nickelodeon brawler, though.