Zach Galligan is returning to the world of the Mogwai.

During a panel at San Diego Comic Con, the actor surprised the audience with the news that he will be part of the voice cast of Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, an animated prequel series premiering on HBO Max next year.

Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai takes place in1920s Shanghai, with the story focusing on 10-year-old Sam Wing (future shop owner Mr. Wing in the 1984 movie) and how he first met the young Mogwai called Gizmo. Along with a teenage street thief named Elle, Sam and Gizmo take a journey through the Chinese countryside, meeting and sometimes fighting colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore. On their quest to return Gizmo to his family and uncover a legendary treasure, they are pursued by a power-hungry industrialist and his growing army of evil Gremlins.

Galligan joins a cast that includes newly-announced stars like Sandra Oh, Randall Park, George Takei and Bowen Yang.  They join a roster of actors announced earlier that includes James Hong, BD Wong, Ming-Na Wen and Matthew Rhys. Park appeared on video, saying that he can’t yet tell us who he will be playing on the show.

“I can’t say too much but because it’s 1920s China, I’m not playing Billy because he wasn’t around,” Galligan told the assembled crowd. “So I’m playing this cool character. It was really fun and amazing to work with a new group of creative people who are taking a fresh look at the franchise and are expanding the mythology—who knows what they’re going to add. Maybe they’ll add a new transformation or a new rule we don’t know about yet… I think Gremlins fans are going to eat it up.”

Howie Mandel will not be returning as the voice of Gizmo; instead veteran voice actor A.J. LoCascio is taking over. The director of the orginal Gremlins movies, Joe Dante, serves as a consultant on Secrets of the Mogwai, which was developed for TV by Tze Chun.