After claiming the title of television’s longest-running animated children’s series, Arthur ended its 25-year run this week. Over the series’ lifespan, it became a constant factory of memes and viral trends. Everyone had their fun with them, but one who truly felt their impact was The Voice’s John Legend. He became a real-life Arthur representative after a tweet compared him to the anthropomorphic TV character. His wife Chrissy Teigen took it further by trolling him for looking like the animated aardvark. All the teasing might work out for Legend if a movie came to fruition.
While the beloved series ended its original run, that doesn’t mean the ideas have dried up. A potential movie based on the children’s series might be in the mix, according to creator Marc Brown. Brown teased to THR a live-action adaptation might be in the works before mentioning the movie is only an idea right now. But the author did tease the EGOT possibly jumping into a certain aardvark’s sneakers, saying,
My son Tolon has been a producer on the show almost since it started, and he’s working with me, as Peter Hirsch is, on this new show Hop. But he had this idea several years ago about wouldn’t it be interesting to do a live-action version of Arthur. I couldn’t wrap my head around it completely, but it’s an intriguing thought. There might be a feature film in the works soon, too, about Arthur. I’m so excited. (Laughs.) There was one maybe 15 years ago, and the right people weren’t coming together, so I pulled the plug on it. But now, we’ve got a great idea. I think it’s going to be intriguing for kids. It’s going to be helpful to kids. The subject matter is very timely, and maybe there is even a really interesting person involved… I mean, if I could pick one person I would love to be a part of this project, it might be John Legend.
Whether it’s a joke or not, having the Grammy winner play the beloved TV character would fulfill every viewer’s meme dreams. John Legend might be the perfect person to play Arthur. The only question would be… will he sport the beloved aardvark’s signature yellow cardigan and blue jeans? He might be into the idea as he and Chrissy Teigen starred in a Google television spot where he channeled the notorious fist meme. After the spot aired, Teigen couldn’t help but troll her husband by posting comments under a photo featuring an Arthur doll.
But trolling John Legend is nothing new for Chrissy Teigen. The model couldn’t and wouldn’t stop making fun of the Voice coach by reminding the internet about the time his film La La Land was mistakenly crowned Best Picture in 2016. She hasn’t taken her foot off his neck by jokingly calling him out for forgetting to thank her in his 2021 Grammy speech. But, of course, it’s all in the spirit of love.
It will be a while before moviegoers see if the “All of Me” singer will finally bring the meme to real life. Hopefully, fans get to see Legend as the live-action Arthur in the future. In the meantime, you can check out what upcoming releases are coming up in 2022. Despite Arthur ending its historic run, there are plenty of TV premieres set to happen this year.