WIRE Buzz: Nick orders new Smurfs show; Dark catches us up before Season 3; more

Nickelodeon is developing a CG-animated series based on The Smurfs after licensing the global rights to the famous IP from LAFIG Belgium and IMPS, the network announced this past Thursday.

Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy, Hefty, Clumsy, and the rest will embark "on all-new adventures, packed with humor, heart and high-stakes action," teases the release. Created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo, the Smurfs are dimunitive, blue-skinned beings that build their mushroom domiciles within the forest. Like the Seven Dwarves in Snow White, each Smurf is defined by a specific personality trait. The tiny civilization is constantly antagonized by the evil wizard Gargamel and his cat, Azrael.

Shows, films, video games, comics, and more have turned The Smurfs into an and omnipresent and instantly recognizable multimedia franchise. Most recently, Sony released a loose trilogy of movies inspired by the little blue rascals, blending CGI and live-action for the first two.

Credit: Nickelodeon

"The Smurfs is an iconic global franchise that has resonated with audiences for decades," Pam Kaufman, President, ViacomCBS Consumer Products said in a statement. "By partnering with LAFIG, we are able to join our creative forces to bring an all-new line of consumer products across multiple categories to consumers, along with a fresh and original animated series."

The new show is set to debut on Nick in 2021. It will be second Smurfs television program after the famous 2D version that ran between 1981 and 1989.

In case you need to catch up on Dark before the third and final season arrives on Netflix next weekend, the streamer has a handy little refresher video of the mind-bending story thus far. It can definitely be tough to keep track of all the timelines and heady sci-fi concepts going on in the hit German series, so this is just the thing we need in order to catch up with the rest of the class.

Yes, this will definitely be on the test.

Watch below:

Here's the official synopsis for Season 3: In the third and final season, Dark reaches its mind-bending conclusion, moving beyond the concept of space and time. Upon arrival in a new world, Jonas tries to make sense of what this rendition of Winden means for his own fate, while the ones left behind in the other world are left on a quest to break the loop that now not only bends time but also space. Two worlds. Light and dark. And in the center a tragic love story of epic proportions.

Dark comes to a close Saturday, June 27.

Old-school fans of a certain genetically enhanced marsupial won't have to drag out their old game consoles to take Crash Bandicoot for his next spin. Publisher Activision and developer Toys for Bob have confirmed that a (very) long-awaited proper sequel is coming our way, announcing a reveal event on June 22 for Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time.

Crash came back in his full PS1-retro mascot getup for the short video tease, which you can check out below:

Originally created by Uncharted and The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog, Crash Bandicoot came twirling onto the scene in 1996 as Sony's answer to platform game icons Mario and Sonic. But players still have to go all the way back to the early PlayStation era to find the third and most recent mainline sequel in the series: Crash Bandicoot: Warped hit the PS1 way back in 1998 before the series spun off into a long lineup of mostly non-platforming spinoffs (with Crash finding his biggest success in racing games).

Details on which consoles Crash 4 will land on remain slight until the announcement event, so be there at 11AM ET on Monday, June 22 when all will be revealed — including (we hope) a release date.