Pedigreed Argentinian comic strip Malfada is heading to the small screen in an upcoming Netflix animated series. The streamer unveiled the project this week as part of its “Made In Argentina” slate of 19 originals that are currently underway in the South American market. 

Mundoloco CGI in Buenos Aires, a shingle belonging to filmmakers Juan José Campanella and Gastón Gorali, will produce the Malfada adaptation based on the work of late cartoonist Quino. His comic strip kicked off in 1964, offering humorous reflections on childhood, humanity and the state of the world. It was published in newspapers/books around the world and connected with fans of all ages, thanks to its clever satire and deeper social commentary—in the same vein as Charles Schulz’s Peanuts strip.

Specific details like format and target demo are still under wraps, but Campanella is steering the Malfada series project as showrunner, director and producer. Gorali is also on board as a writer and producer, with Sergio Fernández attached to manage production. 

A Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner for The Secret in Their Eyes (2009), Campanella grew up as a Mafalda fan, and he has also had a hand in producing Latin American kids titles such as hit sports comedy Metegol (2013) and preschool series Mini Beat Power Rockers (2017). In a statement, he notes that the Mafalda series for Netflix intends to honor the IP by bringing “its wit, its causticity, to the children who today grow up on digital platforms.”

This isn’t the first time Mafalda has been adapted for the screen. The character was featured on Argentinian television in a series of 2D-animated shorts that aired in the ’70s; Cuban filmmaker Juan Padrón directed a collection of 104 shorts that were compiled into a 1993 Mafalda feature; and more recently, the IP was the subject of a Disney+ documentary called Releyendo Mafalda, which premiered on the streamer last September.