Topline
The first cast members of an animated series based on the popular video game “Among Us” have been announced, featuring Randall Park (“Fresh Off The Boat”), Ashley Johnson (“The Last Of Us”), Yvette-Nicole Brown (“Community”) and Elijah Wood (“The Lord of the Rings”), as fans await numerous other key details about the series including its release date and platform.
Elijah Wood arrives at the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, at the ... [+]
Key Facts
The series is being developed by CBS Studios with Owen Dennis, creator of the animated series Infinity Train, tapped as creator and executive producer—but there is reportedly no streamer or network attached to the project yet, with Variety reporting conversations are ongoing.
Titmouse, the animation studio behind the Netflix series “Big Mouth” and the Amazon Prime series “The Legend of Vox Machina,” will serve as the animation studio for the series, according to Variety.
The official logline for the series echoes the premise of the video game, featuring a crew aboard a spaceship that’s been infiltrated “by an alien shapeshifter” intent on killing everyone, leaving the crew to “root out the ‘Imposter’ or fall victim to its murderous designs.”
Innersloth says more of the voice cast is set to be announced “in the coming weeks.”
Innersloth has shared a few glimpses of the show, including an image in January and comparisons of how the fictional spaceship the Skeld differs in the show from the game.
What Roles Have Been Announced?
The four cast members announced Friday are all playing different crewmembers on the fictional ship from the video game, the Skeld. Park, who’s been in movies like “Always Be My Maybe” and “Ant-Man & The Wasp,” has been tapped as “Red,” the captain of the Skeld, who is described as a “people-pleaser” who “failed upwards.” Johnson, who provided the voice of Ellie in “The Last of Us” video game that spawned the series, will play the ship’s Chief of Security “Purple,” who is described as a “wet blanket” with “trust issues.” Brown, who’s made a variety of appearances since her run on “Community,” is playing “Orange” who is described as a “spineless corporate shill.” And Wood, who’s more recently been featured on the Emmy-nominated Showtime series “Yellowjackets,” is set to play “Green,” an unpaid intern who does “whatever they’re told.”
Key Background
While “Among Us” was developed in 2018, it exploded in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic, as it became a popular featured game for big-name streamers and YouTubers. The game went on to win multiple video game awards and, in 2020, broke the record for “most popular game ever” by number of monthly players, according to SuperData. The multiplayer game puts players aboard the Skeld and assigns them basic tasks, while a small number of players are secretly deemed “imposters” who sabotage and kill the other players onboard. The crew must weed out the imposters before the imposters kill all aboard the ship.
Big Number
300 million. That’s how many monthly users were playing “Among Us” at the height of its popularity in 2020, according to Business of Apps. That number has since cooled, with the number of monthly users down to 50 million in 2022—though it remains significantly higher than the 500,000 monthly users playing in 2019, before the pandemic.
