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director has made several lasting films in his day, but he has yet to venture into television. He hasn’t ruled out the opportunity to make a miniseries with a project he has long pursued.
“Actually yeah, I have a project that, it’s hard to explain, but it would lend itself to multiple episodes,” he said at the “Brad Bird: My Cinematic Journey” panel at San Diego 2026, moderated by Collider’s Steven Weintraub in Hall H. “It has to do with the earthquake in San Francisco.”
This answer was prompted by Patton Oswalt via video message, in which the Ratatouille voice actor asked if a multi-episode form project was in Bird’s future. Oswalt also snuck in a quick “and also Ratatouille 2?”
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Based on James Dalessandro’s 2004 historical novel about the catastrophic earthquake and fire that killed more than 3,000 people and destroyed more than 80% of San Francisco, Bird has sought to adapt the book since 2007.
“There’s a lotta BS on the Internet about the reason it didn’t happen,” Bird added of the long-stewing project. “They said the budget went out of control or something like that. We never got that far.”
The Incredibles (2004) helmer likened the process to packing up supplies for a hot air balloon, and having to lighten the load in order for lift-off, losing his darlings in the process.
“The problem with it is, the more you research that time, the more amazing it is,” Bird continued. “And the stories that are happening are insane. The deeper I dug, the more stuff I [had to include]. I was like, ‘This has to be in it!’ but it has to be big like a movie.”
Still very interested in exploring the story, Bird wants it to balance the “detail of successive episodes” and the “size of a giant movie.” When asked if it could span multiple seasons or remain a limited series, Bird responded that he envisions eight episodes.
The director was surprised by film score composer Michael Giacchino, whom he has worked with in The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Ray Gunn, midway through the panel. The Fantastic Four: The First Steps and Spider-Man: Brand New Day composer tried to get Bird to tease Incredibles 3 both by video message submission and right next to the director on the mic. Bird revealed no new updates besides his involvement writing the film and working with director Peter Sohn.
Hall H was also treated to the first seven minutes of Bird’s next animated film Ray Gunn, which played at Annecy. The spy noir film, which features the voices of Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Waits, arrives Dec. 18 on Netflix.
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