Children’s entertainment producer and rights owner HIT Entertainment (Bob the Builder, Barney) has appointed Toronto-based animation studio Arc Productions (Gnomeo and Juliet, 9) as the new animation studio for the kids CG-animated series Thomas & Friends.

The deal, which marks Arc’s first foray into producing a global TV series, will see the studio take over from Vancouver’s Nitrogen Studios and animate new 11-minute episodes (for air in fall 2013) for the popular show’s 17th series, as well as one-hour Thomas & Friends feature-length specials.

Arc will maintain the same CG-look to the series which was initially unveiled in 2010 and saw the characters speak in their own voices for the first time. SVP of production Kallan Kagan and director Rob Silvestri of Arc will head up production on the series.

Thomas & Friends currently airs in more than 185 countries worldwide.