Spy School Is Becoming a Disney+ Series From Chuck Creator Chris Fedak and Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort

Disney+ is developing Spy School, a drama based on Stuart Gibbs' bestselling middle-grade books about a kid recruited into a CIA academy disguised as a science magnet school. Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak is writing, with Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort, producer Emma Watts, and 20th Television behind it. Gibbs' five book series have sold more than 12 million copies.

Ben Ripley is coming to Disney+. The streamer is developing Spy School, a drama based on Stuart Gibbs' bestselling middle-grade book series about a kid whose dream of joining the CIA arrives years ahead of schedule, according to Deadline. Chuck co-creator Chris Fedak is writing the adaptation, with Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort, veteran film executive Emma Watts, and 20th Television producing.

A CIA academy hiding inside a middle school

The premise is pure kid-fantasy wish fulfillment. Ben Ripley may only be a teenager, but he has already pegged his dream job: CIA or bust. He is not surprised when he is recruited for a magnet school with a focus on science, but he is entirely shocked to discover the school is a front for a CIA academy. It is a setup built for the kind of gadget-filled, double-cross-heavy adventure Disney+ has been hunting for in its family slate.

The team behind it

Fedak is best known for co-creating and running NBC's Chuck, another story about an ordinary guy pulled into the spy world, which makes him a natural fit for this material. He also co-created and ran Fox's Prodigal Son, created ABC's Deception, and wrote the screenplay for Michael Bay's Ambulance. He executive produces alongside Watts, Maximum Effort, and Gibbs himself.

Watts, formerly President of the Motion Picture Group at Paramount and Vice Chairman at Twentieth Century Fox, helped steward franchises including Deadpool, X-Men, Kingsman, Planet of the Apes, and James Cameron's Avatar films. Notably, this reunites her with Reynolds: she championed Deadpool at Fox, and this is her latest collaboration with him since. Maximum Effort's involvement gives the project a distinctly bigger-than-tween pedigree.

Why the books matter

Gibbs is the New York Times bestselling author of five middle-grade series: Spy School, Funjungle, Charlie Thorne, Moon Base Alpha, and Once Upon a Tim, plus the DC Comics graphic novel series Bruce Wayne: Not Super. His books have sold more than 12 million copies, and the Spy School line alone has been running strong for over a decade, which means Disney+ is buying a property with a built-in audience of kids and parents. His first nonfiction book, Spy School Secret Files: Totally True Tales From World War II, arrives this fall.

What this means for Disney+ families

Disney+ has leaned harder into live-action series for the middle-grade crowd, and Percy Jackson and the Olympians proved a beloved book series with a faithful adaptation can anchor the service. Spy School fits the same mold: a long-running series, a passionate readership, and a hook that sells itself in one sentence. The project is in development, so casting and a release window are still a ways off, but this is one for Disney+ households with young readers to watch.