Inside the Cartoon Network Reboot You Were Never Meant to See

Cartoon Network is deep in its revival era right now — think Regular Show: The Lost Tapes and Adventure Time: Side Quests — so it felt inevitable that someone would try to bring back Chowder. Turns out, creator C.H. Greenblatt already did. He pitched a new take. The network said no. And yeah, the reason is as unsexy as it gets: money.

Greenblatt had a plan: 'Chowder: First Course'

Greenblatt revealed that he was asked to pitch a younger-skewing reboot of his culinary chaos show and came back with a fresh angle: send Chowder to cooking school alongside Panini and Gorgonzola. Familiar faces would return, just behind the teacher's desk instead of the catering counter. The whole thing had a clear focus — make it kid-forward, keep the trouble, change the setting.

A while back, Cartoon Network asked me to pitch them a reboot of Chowder for a slightly younger audience (for free, of course)... I re-imagined it so that instead of a catering company, Chowder went to a culinary school with Panini and Gorgonzola. All the other familiar faces are faculty there, but the stories focus more on the three kids getting into trouble. Sadly, CN said they had no money to make it, so it never went anywhere.

• Working title: 'Chowder: First Course'
• Angle: skew younger, school setting instead of the catering biz
• Core trio: Chowder, Panini, Gorgonzola
• Legacy cast: back as school faculty
• Status: passed — Cartoon Network said there was no budget
• Bonus: Greenblatt shared concept art on Instagram to show what could have been

Why a straight revival would be tricky

When we talked to Greenblatt last year, he was clear: if Chowder ever comes back, it has to evolve. The original kids who voiced these characters are older now, so just doing more of the exact same thing would ring off. He likes Chowder as a kid — that sweetness and wide-eyed curiosity is the point — but he wants a twist that justifies a new version.

He did get to sneak Chowder back once already: a cameo in a crossover episode of Jellystone, the gleefully chaotic Hanna-Barbera mash-up he helped spearhead. Jellystone wrapped last year after three seasons, but that brief return clearly scratched the itch a bit.

So, could Chowder actually return?

Given Cartoon Network is currently dusting off fan favorites — Mordecai and Rigby are back in the mix, Finn and Jake are out there adventuring again — it would not be shocking if the network reopens the kitchen for this one. The pitch exists. The appetite is there. The hiccup is the budget. If that changes, 'First Course' feels like a smart way to reintroduce the show without just reheating leftovers.