Aaron Blabey, Popular Kids Author Behind ‘The Bad Guys’, Sets Two New Book Series With Macmillan

EXCLUSIVE: Bestselling author Aaron Blabey has signed an eight-figure deal with Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for two new series.

The first, called Game of Pets, will debut in the fall of 2026. Macmillan and Foundation Media Partners plan to develop and produce it as a feature film franchise.

Blabey’s The Bad Guys series and Thelma The Unicorn were adapted for film by, respectively, DreamWorks Animation and Netflix. Blabey served as executive producer on both.

Universal Pictures and DWA are releasing The Bad Guys 2, a sequel to the $250 million-grossing 2022 hit, later this year. It follows a crackerjack criminal crew of animal outlaws, struggling to find acceptance in their newly minted lives as Good Guys, who are pulled out of retirement and forced to do one last job. Netflix aired animated prequel The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday Christmas special in 2023.

Animated musical Thelma The Unicorn debuted on the streamer last May.

On Game of Pets, Macmillan and Foundation Media Group will collaborate from early stages of the project, bringing a screenwriter on board while the books are still being written.

The new two-series deal, of seven titles total, is Blabey’s first foray outside his longtime home at Scholastic. The books will be published simultaneously by Macmillan UK, Macmillan Australia, and in the U.S., by MCPG imprint Odd Dot.

Game of Pets poses the question: What if life on Earth is merely a board game being played by giant animals whose avatars happen to be . . . our beloved pets? The publisher calls it The Truman Show meets The Secret Life of Pets.

The second series, The Awfuls, introduces readers to a top secret, experimental weapon with the power “to make your enemy feel badly about themselves and give up. What could go wrong when this weapon falls into a middle schooler’s hands?” says the logline.

“Aaron’s talents are myriad and extraordinary — and among his greatest gifts is his affection for what it means to be a young reader. This deep knowing shows up in his books’ every hilarious joke; in every complicated character with a wish just outside their reach; and in every illustration and plot twist, so exciting they leap right off the page and into young readers’ hearts and minds,” said Jen Besser, President and Publisher, MCPG.

Said Blabey, “In June 2023, I completed the final Bad Guys book — my fortieth title in ten years — and genuinely felt it might be time to retire. I mean, that’s a lot of books! However, the infectious enthusiasm of everyone at Macmillan for a pair of new ideas (that I had quietly tucked away) has made me think perhaps all I needed was a holiday and a shot of new positive energy. I am very excited to get back to work. Here’s to a new chapter with the gang at Macmillan.”

Besser negotiated the deal with Patrick Hughes at Foundation Media for world rights at auction.

Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group is comprised of eleven imprints including Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, Odd Dot and more with authors including Madeleine L’Engle, Natalie Babbitt, Leigh Bardugo, Gene Luen Yang, Tomi Adeyemi, Marissa Meyer, Eric Carle, Nick Bruel, Loren Long, Angeline Boulley, Nancy Tillman, John Patrick Green, George M. Johnson and Eoin Colfer.