Boom! Tom Ellis, Lucy Liu to Voice ‘Exploding Kittens’ Animated Series and Mobile Game for Netflix
Netflix is going mobile.
The streamer will simultaneously launch an animated series and mobile game based on the card game created by Matthew Inman (best known for his web comic The Oatmeal.)
This is a first for Netflix, though it currently has a series based on the popular app Trivia Quest putting out new episodes daily.
The series will be an adult animated comedy and is executive produced by King of the Hill creators Mike Judge, also known for Beavis and Butthead, and Greg Daniels, who also produced The Office. The series “follows the eternal conflict between heaven and hell when both God and the devil are sent to Earth – in the bodies of chunky house cats,” according to the show’s logline.
Exploding Kittens will star the voices of Tom Ellis (Lucifer), Abraham Lim (The Boys), Lucy Liu (Elementary), Ally Maki (Wrecked), Mark Proksch (What We Do In the Shadows, Better Call Saul) and Sasheer Zamata (Woke). Shane Kosakowski (You’re the Worst) and Inman will serve as showrunners.
The mobile game will launch in May. In it, players draw cards aiming to avoid the Exploding Kitten. It will be much like the card game, with a few additions: the mobile game adds two new exclusive cards to the deck: Radar, which reveals to players the position of the Exploding Kitten closest to the top of the card deck, and Flip Flop, which reverses the order of the cards in the deck.
Future cards and game mechanics will be themed around the animated series so people can play with their favorite characters. The game will feature both single and multiplayer options.
“The co-development of a game and animated series breaks new ground for Netflix, and we couldn’t think of a better game to build a universe around than Exploding Kittens, one of the most inventive, iconic and original games of this century,” said Mike Moon, Netflix Head of Adult Animation.
“Netflix is the only service that could bring Exploding Kittens to life in both a series and a game,” Inman said. “We actually launched Exploding Kittens on Kickstarter as a weekend project, but our community has been the heart and soul of the company over the past six years. The new series and game will give our fans new ways to connect and interact with the franchise.”
The show is expected to debut in 2023.