Jack Black returning as Po for new ‘Kung Fu Panda’ series

If you weren’t aware, it’s national panda day today and because every occasion needs some sort of entertainment tie-in, DreamWorks Animation is celebrating the ‘big day’ by announcing via Twitter that a new Kung Fu Panda series, officially titled Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, is headed to Netflix.

The biggest talking point here, besides the franchise’s continuation, is confirmation that Jack Black is returning to voice Po, but the jury’s still out on whether Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, Ian McShane, or Seth Rogan will reprise their roles for the TV series.

Also, no word yet about whether we can expect to hear the voices of Bryan Cranston as Pops, or Rebel Wilson as Mei Mei, though with Black back on board, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear in the near future, confirmation that more of the ensemble cast present in the original film are returning to co-star alongside the musician and actor. Until we learn more, either way, fans can feast their eyes on some early screenshots from the series, courtesy of DreamWorks, above.

As far as a release date is concerned, production still appears to be somewhat in its infancy, so we’ll likely be waiting a while before DreamWorks and Netflix are collectively ready to give a firm window. In the meantime, see below for the first snippets of story direction, as provided by the latter.

“Po must leave his home to embark on a globe-trotting quest for redemption and justice that finds him partnered up with a no-nonsense English knight named Wandering Blade. Together, these two mismatched warriors set out on an epic adventure to find the magical weapons first and save the world from destruction — and they may even learn a thing or two from each other along the way.”