Taako casts: MAGIC PEACOCK!

Ahead of the launch of their new Streaming service, Peacock, NBC just announced a new slate of shows that will be hosted on the platform, and the first on the list has us (and, I’m sure, podcast fans and nerds everywhere) screaming with joy and surprise. The Adventure Zone: Balance will have a home on Peacock as an animated series!

Here are the details, as revealed by The Hollywood Reporter:

Based on the McElroy Family’s wildly popular Dungeons & Dragons podcast and No. 1 New York Times best-selling graphic novel series, The Adventure Zone is a side-splitting and heart-filled fantasy animated comedy series that follows an unlikely, poorly equipped trio and their beleaguered Dungeon Master as they reluctantly embark on a quest to save their world.

Writer/executive producer: Adam Higgs (Orphan Black)

Executive producers: Clint McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy

This is so exciting, and I hope more details emerge soon, including when we’ll see this on our screens.

The Adventure Zone started as a special episode of the McElroys’ Flagship podcast, My Brother, My Brother, and Me, in 2014. The three McElroy brothers, Justin, Travis, and Griffin, joined their father, Clint, to play a game of Dungeons and Dragons, and while they weren’t necessarily the best players, the campaign quickly took on a life of its own as Dungeon Master Griffin went off book to create an epic story that spanned realties and took the family years to complete. They’ve moved on to other arcs since, but the “Balance” campaign, as it came to be called, set a new standard for fun fantasy.

Thanks to the humor, warmth, and weirdness of the McElroys, The Adventure Zone is now a fan favorite and beloved story, and the exploits of aloof wizard Taako, reckless fighter Magnus, and inept Cleric Merle have already found life outside the podcast as a series of (great) graphic novels. An animated series feels like the perfect fit to bring The Adventure Zone to an even bigger audience.

What this release doesn’t say is who will be doing the voices, but I hope that it’s the McElroys for most of them. Their voices are the characters, for the most part, but I’m also excited to get new blood in for the NPCs, so Griffin doesn’t have to do 40 voices full-time. I also hope that the animation style keeps some of the elements of Carey Pietsch’s versions of the characters.

I would love to provide more information for you but I have none. We’re working with showrunner @adamjhiggs who loves our show as much as we do and is immensely talented. It’s going to beat ass. That’s all we’ve got at the moment. — Justin “Hoops” McElroy (@JustinMcElroy) January 16, 2020

This is the first news that has me really excited about Peacock (sorry to their weird egg-cam), but it’s not the only series that has been announced. Peacock is also producing Clean Slate with George Wallace as a father who must come to terms when the child he knew as a son comes home as a daughter, played by Laverne Cox; Expecting with Mindy Kaling as a woman who gets pregnant with her gay best friend as a donor and explores a found family; Division One will be about a women’s college soccer team and comes from producer Amy Poehler; and yes … there’s a MacGruber series, too.

This slate sounds … pretty amazing, actually, and looks beautifully diverse. I love that a series that includes a gay elf wizard in its leads and features characters of all races, genders, and sexualities is part of this group. The only problem is that it’s not here right now … but at least we can re-listen to the entire Balance arc any time, or for the first time, if you’ve never tried.

(via: The Hollywood Reporter, image: FirstSecond books)

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