Roku confirms it will extend Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist as its first original movie

Roku is amping up its newfound original-programming effort with its first feature film, reviving canceled TV series Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist as a holiday special that will stream free on The Roku Channel later this year, the company said Wednesday. 

Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas, which picks up after the events of show’s second season, will reunite creator Austin Winsberg (who will write and executive produce the film) and pilot-episode director Richard Shepard (who will direct the movie) with the original cast: Jane Levy, Skylar Astin, Alex Newell, John Clarence Stewart, Andrew Leeds, Alice Lee, Michael Thomas Grant, Kapil Talwalkar, Mary Steenburgen, Peter Gallagher and Bernadette Peters will all reprise their roles.

The movie will be available to stream later this year “during the holiday season” exclusively on The Roku Channel in the US, and it will be available on Roku in Canada and the UK too, Roku said in a release. News of a plan to revive Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist as a Roku movie leaked last week. 

It’s another milestone in Roku‘s rapid acceleration into original programming. Kicking off earlier this year with a bargain buyout of the shows originally created for failed mobile streamer Quibi, Roku has quickly moved onto making and ordering its own content. It launched a weekly 15-minute what-to-watch show called Roku Recommends early this summer, the first output from what it calls its Roku Brand Studio, and the company has renewed two of the shows it bought from Quibi for second seasons, The Most Dangerous Game and Kevin Hart-vehicle Die Hart.

All these Roku originals are showcased on The Roku Channel, one way the company, best known for making streaming devices, has entrenched itself further into its real cash cow — advertising. The Roku Channel is a free, ad-supported streaming service that’s mostly watched on Roku’s own devices, but it’s also available to stream on the web and through standalone apps for devices like Apple iPhones, Android phones, Amazon’s Fire TV devices and Samsung TVs.