Grant Morrison is a wizard. Literally. They once claimed to have been abducted by higher-dimensional beings in Kathmandu, an experience that fueled the psychedelic chaos of The Invisibles. When you’re dealing with a writer who views reality as a "hypersigil" or a giant living organism, translating that to a Netflix screen gets messy. Fast.
People always ask why there aren't more Grant Morrison movies and tv shows given they've written the definitive versions of Batman, Superman, and the X-Men. The truth? Hollywood is usually too terrified of the "weird."
The Syfy Gamble: Happy! and the Blue Unicorn
Most fans looking for a pure Morrison experience start with Happy!. It’s a miracle this show even exists. It follows Nick Sax, a disgraced cop turned hitman played by Christopher Meloni with such unhinged intensity you can practically smell the booze through the screen.
The premise is pure Morrison: a cynical killer teams up with a tiny, blue, winged unicorn (voiced by Patton Oswalt) that only he can see.
Honestly, the TV show is better than the comic. There, I said it. Morrison served as an executive producer and co-writer, and you can feel their fingerprints on the expanded lore. While the four-issue miniseries was a tight, nasty little story, the show bloomed into a bizarre exploration of Christmas conspiracies and child-snatching Santas. It ran for two seasons on Syfy before getting the axe, but it remains the gold standard for how to adapt their specific brand of "filth and fury."
Peacock’s Brave New World: A Different Kind of Dystopia
Then there was the 2020 adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Morrison was a lead writer and executive producer here, but if you went in expecting a page-for-page remake of the book, you were probably confused.
They did something risky. They focused on the "utopia" part—the antiseptic, drug-fueled bliss—rather than just the "scary government" tropes we’ve seen a thousand times in The Hunger Games.
The show introduced "Indra," a wireless network connecting everyone’s minds. It was a very Morrison-esque update. It took the 1930s fear of assembly lines and turned it into a 21st-century fear of social media connectivity. Sadly, it only lasted one season on Peacock. It was expensive, glossy, and perhaps a bit too "cold" for mainstream audiences. But if you want to see Morrison grappling with high-concept sci-fi on a massive budget, it's essential viewing.
The DC Connection: Doom Patrol and Titans
This is where things get interesting for the "everything is connected" crowd. Morrison didn't technically run the Doom Patrol TV show, but that show is a love letter to their 1989-1993 comic run.
Without Morrison, we don't get:
- Danny the Street: A sentient, genderqueer piece of geography that communicates via storefront signs.
- The Beard Hunter: A man who eats facial hair to track people.
- Crazy Jane: A woman with 64 distinct personalities, each with their own superpower.
The show managed to capture the "vibe" better than almost any other superhero project. And then, in a moment that broke the brains of DC fans everywhere, Morrison actually appeared in an episode of Titans in 2023.
During the "Dude, Where's My Gar?" episode, Beast Boy travels through the Multiverse. He looks into a rift and sees a bald man sitting at a desk. It’s Grant. They look directly at the camera and acknowledge the character, effectively making Morrison a canonical part of the DC cinematic multiverse. It’s the ultimate "meta" moment from the person who pioneered meta-fiction in comics.
The Ones That Got Away
We have to talk about the projects that are currently gathering dust in "development hell."
For years, an adaptation of The Invisibles has been the Holy Grail. It's the story of a secret cell of freedom fighters battling Archons from another dimension. It basically inspired The Matrix (a claim Morrison has made many times, pointing to the leather jackets, the kung-fu, and the "waking up" narrative). Every few years, a studio says they’re working on it. As of 2026, we’re still waiting for a definitive update.
There was also talk of a WE3 movie—the heart-wrenching story of a dog, a cat, and a rabbit turned into cyborg killing machines. James Gunn has expressed interest in Morrison's work repeatedly, and since he's now the boss of the DCU, rumors of an All-Star Superman or The Brave and the Bold film (based on Morrison's Batman run) are finally becoming a reality.
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The Music Video Villains
You can't fully understand Morrison's screen presence without looking at My Chemical Romance.
Gerard Way is a massive fan (and a great writer himself). He cast Morrison as the villain "Korse" in the music videos for Na Na Na and Sing. Morrison plays a high-ranking corporate assassin in a white suit, hunting down the "Killjoys" in a post-apocalyptic desert. It’s a small role, but it shows off their natural screen presence. They have this eerie, calm intensity that works perfectly for a villain.
How to Actually Watch This Stuff
If you’re trying to dive into the world of Grant Morrison movies and tv shows, don't just look for their name in the credits. Look for their influence.
- Watch Happy! on Netflix. It’s the most "them" thing on TV.
- Binge Doom Patrol (HBO Max/Max). Even though they didn't write the scripts, it’s their soul in every episode.
- Find All-Star Superman. The animated movie from 2011. It’s a very faithful adaptation of what many consider the greatest Superman story ever told.
- Look for the Morrison Cameos. Beyond Titans, keep an eye out in the background of various DC animated projects.
The biggest mistake people make is expecting a standard "hero's journey." Morrison doesn't do those. They do "the hero discovers they are a fictional character in a simulation run by giant space-bugs." If you can get on that wavelength, the shows are a trip.
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If you're looking to start your collection, grab the Happy! Deluxe Edition graphic novel first to see how the TV show diverted from the source material. Then, move on to the Doom Patrol Omnibus. Seeing the raw ideas on the page makes watching the weirdness on screen much more satisfying. You’ll start to see the "sigils" everywhere.