Jason Segel revealed earlier this month that he has a series of young adult novels on the way, and now, we’ve learned the books’ titles and what they’re about. Entitled Nightmares!, the series is “an adventure story about a group of kids who realize it’s up to them to save their town from fear, which has manifested itself in the form of nightmare creatures that have slipped into the everyday world.†Segel, who has previously written movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Muppets, said in a statement, “Ultimately, it’s a story about learning that we can accomplish anything, as long as we are brave enough to try. These are the types of stories that always inspired me.†The first book, co-written by Segel and Kirsten Miller (The Eternal Ones), is set for a fall 2014 release via Random House.
Segel says he originally wrote the story as a screenplay, which he sold to a studio “for super cheap†when he was 21 because he “didn’t know any better.†Here’s Segel telling the story a couple years ago:
It sat on a shelf and they didn’t know that it was the same Jason Segel. I came to them because the contract was up and I went to buy it up and they were like, ‘No, wait, that was you? That was your script?’ And I was like, ‘Yep, sorry dudes.’ So I now own it and I want to make it. It’s a kids adventure movie in the style of Goonies or Labyrinth.
When Segel bought back the script, he began adapting it into novels and sparked a bidding war between publishing houses. If the books prove successful, I wouldn’t be surprised if they get adapted into movies, bringing this full thing full circle.