Apple plans to make a live-action 'Speed Racer' series

MANILA, Philippines — "Go, Speed Racer, Go!"

Apple is looking to move a gear higher after announcing they are developing a live-action "Speed Racer" series for its streaming platform.

The "Speed Racer" show has finally been given the greenlight for production after years of boardroom discussions, with "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" director J.J. Abrams executive producing through his Bad Robot company.

Tapped to be the showrunners and writers are Hiram Martinez from "Snowpiercer" and Ron Fitzgerald from "Friday Night Lights" and "Perry Mason"; the latter has previously worked with Abrams for HBO's show "Westworld."

The planned AppleTV+ show will be referring to the original manga series as the source material, and not other recent adaptation attempts like the 2008 movie starring Emile Hirsch.

"Mach GoGoGo" was a Japanese manga written by Tatsuo Yoshida in 1966 which follows racecar driver Go Mifune and his now-iconic car the Mach 5.

It later became a 52-episode anime series and was given the name "Speed Racer" when it was dubbed and adapted for Western audiences to huge popularity.

In the United States "Speed Racer" was seen on comic books, direct-to-television projects. and merchandising, and was pivotal to the expansion of anime in the West.

The "Speed Racer" live-action movie directed by the Wachowskis in 2008 was a commercial failure at the box but has since gained a cult following among fans.

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