In the 90s, the multi-season series featured a new story every week, all based on Stine’s eponymous books. Goosebumps also resurged in pop culture with some movies starring Jack Black in the late 2010s, but it was Disney+ who brought the series back to the show format in 2023.
The first iteration of the anthology series starred Justin Long as a new teacher in town who becomes involved in a supernatural murder from decades ago. But this latest season tackles a new story with a new cast of characters, including David Schwimmer.
"It's a new interpretation of the books. There is so much to extract from those, I believe, 204 beloved books. And as it unfolds over eight episodes, you really get to invest in the characters and relationships in a way that I think is really worth it in terms of the emotional line... (you're) watching how all these characters and relationships develop," says Schwimmer. "So, in a way, you have all the fun and excitement and all the mystery and adventure... but really, you're following these characters on this great adventure."
'Goosebumps: the Disappearance' begins when twins Cece (Jayden Bartels) and Devin (Sam McCarthy) are sent to spend the summer in Gravesend, Brooklyn, with their divorced father (Schwimmer.) It doesn't take long before the teenagers and some of their friends find themselves entangled in the mystery of four young people who disappeared in 1994.
"I play Anthony Brewer, who is a botanist and also a botany professor. He is at the house where he grew up taking care of his mother because she is going through a stage of dementia. So, at the beginning of the series, it is a difficult time in Anthony's life because he has put his career on hold to take care of his mother," Schwimmer explains. "And being in the house where he grew up... there was some childhood trauma because of what happened to his older brother."
In the first episode, the audience already knows the mysteries that lie beneath the surface. Some big, some small, but most of them revolve around parts of the Brewer family's past.
"One of the great mysteries that begins to unravel is something that happened when he was a child... it resurfaces or comes to the surface again. For me, the really fun part is being able to interpret a character who has a deeply rooted history in what he experienced as a child, what he is going through now with his mother, and also trying to be a loving father to his children," says Schwimmer. "So he is being pulled in all these directions, and then he is literally pulled in another direction by something - I can't say too much - but he remains, let's say, infected."
"Goosebumps: The Disappearance" is largely seen through the lens of CeCe and Devin, the cast also includes Ana Ortiz, Elijah M. Cooper, Galilea La Salvia, and Francesca Noel. Even with this new take on Stine's stories, fans can still expect the nostalgic formula of the series: A bit of comedy, a bit of action, and a bunch of spooky stories.
"I have always wanted to do this genre: action comedy with a bit of emotion and terror," Schwimmer concludes. "I thought it was a very fun opportunity to fully immerse myself in it. When I read the script, I thought, well, this is going to be a blast, and it really was."