SpongeBob SquarePants Spin-Offs Are Coming to Nickelodeon

Are you ready for the SpongeBob SquarePants television universe?

The aquatic animated series, which is celebrating its 20^th anniversary this year, might soon be expanding into spin-offs if new Nickelodeon president Brian Robbins has his way. Speaking with Variety, Robbins expressed enthusiasm for opening up the SpongeBob mythology to include new series based on supporting characters.

“That’s our Marvel universe,” Robbins said. “You have this amazing show that’s run for almost 20 years.” Robbins speculated that new original shows could conceivably feature SpongeBob—the fry cook finding fun and adventure in the ocean city of Bikini Bottom—teaming with his friend Patrick or see characters like Sandy Cheeks and Plankton star in their own projects.

The strategy is part of Robbins’s goal to branch out into delivering more titles in the Nickelodeon library in order to compare with the deep well of content offered by streaming services like Netflix. Viewership across several family entertainment channels is down, with Nickelodeon seeing a 24 percent drop in its audience aged 2 to 11 in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to the same timeframe in 2017. Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel suffered 37 percent and 30 percent drops, respectively.

Robbins believes more programming is part of the solution to retaining viewers. Rather than make a “zillion” episodes of one popular show, Robbins would prefer to see the channel grow into a more diverse programming lineup so people can binge a series and move on to the next.

In addition to more SpongeBob, Nickelodeon is also planning a CGI Paddington series for younger viewers inspired by the recent live-action films. Paddington and Paddington 2 actor Ben Whishaw—who recently won a Golden Globe for his work in A Very English Scandal—will again voice the bear. The network is also producing revivals of the popular 1990s hits Are You Afraid of the Dark? and All That.