Ayo Edebiri Now Attached to ‘Barney’ Movie

Ayo Edebiri is going to be hanging out with Barney, the purple dinosaur, a lot more often. The Bear actress has been tapped to write the screenplay for A24’s upcoming live-action movie from Mattel Films and Daniel Kaluuya’s 59% Productions, according to Deadline, and might be starring in it as well. Although plot details are being kept under wraps, it will bring back the beloved children’s dinosaur that has been around since the late ‘80s after being introduced in the direct-to-video series Barney & the Backyard Gang. Barney & Friends aired on PBS for 14 seasons from 1992 to 2010.

The live-action Barney film was first announced in 2019. Kevin McKeon and Andrew Scannell will be overseeing the project for Mattel Films, along with Robbie Brenner, who will be producing for the company. A24 will produce as well, with Kaluuya and Rowan Riley for 59% Productions.

“We’re leaning into the millennial angst of the property rather than fine-tuning this for kids,” McKeon, an executive at Mattel, told The New Yorker in 2023. “It’s really a play for adults. Not that it’s R-rated, but it’ll focus on some of the trials and tribulations of being thirtysomething, growing up with Barney—just the level of disenchantment within the generation.”

Following the success of 2023’s Barbie, Mattel has a number of live-action movies in the works, all based on fan-favorite toys and childhood icons. Along with Barney, Mattel will also be doing Thomas & Friends: The Movie, American Girl, Hot Wheels, Magic 8 Ball, Monster High, Polly Pocket, and Uno, among others.

Ayo Edebiri, 29, is best known for portraying Sydney Adamu on FX on Hulu’s The Bear, for which she has won an Emmy and a Golden Globe. She can also currently be heard as Missy Foreman-Greenwald on Netflix’s adult animated series Big Mouth and as April O’Neil on the Paramount+ animated series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Movie-wise, she most recently provided the voice of Envy in 2024’s Inside Out 2 and starred in the A24 thriller Opus, which debuted at Sundance in January and will release in theaters on Mar. 14. Edebiri also served as executive producer on the film.

It’s likely more information on Barney will be released in the coming months, including casting and plot details. But for now, the film will remain a mystery, and there is no telling what that dinosaur will be up to.