Jeff Probst Announces 'Survivor' Is Becoming an Animated Movie - With Animals as Players
Over 26 years, we've seen Survivor expand across a wide variety of media, with everyone from board games to video games. But the iconic reality series will be exploring a brand-new horizon, as it heads to the big screen in a new upcoming animated film.
The news comes courtesy of an announcement from Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst. The Emmy winner posted a video on his Instagram account, saying, "I am very excited to announce that Survivor is partnering with Paramount Animation to bring Survivor to the big screen in a completely new way. It's still everything we love about Survivor: Big personalities, funny characters, surprising alliances, competition, chaos, and, of course, a lot of heart, but this time the players aren't humans."
Indeed, for a show whose most famous moment is a woman comparing the Final Two players to snakes and rats, this upcoming movie seems to take that literally. According to Probst, the film will focus on a proper game of Survivor playing out, complete with challenges and eliminations. But this time, the contestants will be animals.
"This is the perfect fit," he continues. "Survivor has always been about watching different personalities, learning how to live together while competing against each other and setting it in the world of animals gives us a whole new playground to play with. I can't wait for you to meet this new tribe."
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The synopsis for the film reads: "Set on a remote and mystical island, animals from all around the globe compete for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be crowned the sole Survivor."
As would be the case with any announcement of a movie that fictionalizes one of the biggest game-changing TV shows of all time and sets it in the animal kingdom, there are many, many questions. Are we talking fully walking and talking animals, or is this more of a Lion King fell? When will this film come out? Is this supposed to be for Survivor what Sing! was to American Idol? How involved will production be in making sure the animal version is as accurate as the human one? Could any prominent alumni make cameos (we're already writing head-canon for "Boston Robin" and "Sandra Diaz-Swine")? What about Probst himself?
In reaching 50 seasons (with another coming in the fall), Survivor has continued to showcase how it's taken the world by storm in the 2000s. And evidently, it hopes to be taking over the box office as well. All we know is they better have a llama named Tony and a chicken named Mark, or we riot!
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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 10:06 PM.