There’s good news for fans of Lightning McQueen and Mater. A brand-new Cars spin-off is set to hit the road on September 8, with the promise of “Nine new episodes. One epic road trip”.
Disney+ Hotstar dropped the trailer of Cars on the Road on Tuesday and tweeted, “#LightningMcQueen and #Mater are back! Watch the trailer for Disney and Pixar’s Cars on the Road and start streaming the Original series, a #DisneyPlusDay premiere, September 8 on @DisneyPlus.”
The streaming service shared the official poster of the new show from Pixar.
The two-minute-9-second-long trailer shows Lightning McQueen and Mater embarking on a mission to meet Mater’s sister and getting into a new mini-adventure with unexpected twists and turns. Some other characters from the Cars franchise can be spotted but it’s not clear if Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy will return to voice Lightning and Mater, respectively.
Cars on the Road is produced by Marc Sondheimer. Steve Purcell, Bobby Podesta and Brian Fee have directed the episodes, and Jake Monaco has composed the score for all the nine episodes.
Watch the trailer here:
For the Cars franchise, Cars on the Road will mark the first full-length television series following the success of the films.
As we gear up for the new series, here’s a look at the three Cars movies, which make up one of the highest-grossing animated franchises in history.
Cars (2006)
Pixar introduced Lightning McQueen and Mater, two lovable characters in the shape of cars, in the computer-animated Cars directed by John Lasseter. The sports comedy film chronicled the story of rookie race car Lightning who experiences a difficult lesson after causing extensive property damage in Radiator Springs. Before he can resume driving, he must first fix the damage. Along the way, he strikes up a friendship with a tow truck called Mater. Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy had voiced McQueen and Mater, respectively. Cars went on to gross over $462 million worldwide.
Cars 2 (2011)
Also directed by John Lasseter, the sequel to Cars focused on developing the friendship between Lightning McQueen and Mater. Cars 2 has Lightning competing in the first World Grand Prix, a three-part race set in Japan, Italy and England to determine the world’s fastest racecar. Lightning and Mater travel abroad to participate in a Grand Prix race, and things turn rough when Mater gets involved in espionage. Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Jason Isaacs and Joe Mantegna voiced the new characters that were introduced. Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton also lent his voice in the film. Cars 2 grossed over $562.1 million worldwide.
Cars 3 (2017)
The third instalment of the Cars franchise was helmed by Brian Fee and revolved around Lighting McQueen’s journey to outrun new generation racecars. Lighting sets out to prove that he is still the best racer in the world, with the help of trainer Cruz Ramirez. Cristela Alonzo, Chris Cooper, Nathan Fillion and Armie Hammer joined the voice cast for Cars 3 along with the regulars. The film’s worldwide earnings were to the tune of $383.9 million.
More from the Cars franchise
Apart from the three films, the Cars franchise includes two series of short animated films or Cars Toons — Mater’s Tall Tales (2008–12) and Tales from Radiator Springs (2013–14). Both shows were telecast on Disney Channel.
Disney and Pixar also released a spin-off film set in the Cars world titled Planes (2013), featuring planes as the main characters. A sequel of Planes, titled Planes: Fire & Rescue, was theatrically released in 2014.
