Among Us Animated Series Is Happening
CBS Studios is turning the popular Among Us video game into an animated series.
Among Us, an online multiplayer game that gained massive popularity during the COVID-19 lockdown, is apparently getting an animated series at CBS Studios. The animated series will be developed by CBS Eye Amination Productions, which has partnered with Innersloth, the independent game studio behind Among Us video game.
According to Variety, the Among Us animated series is based on the premise of the game, in which members of the crew have been replaced by an alien shapeshifter intent on creating confusion, sabotaging the ship, and killing everyone.
It’s up to players, or in this case the cast, to find the imposter or fall victim to its murderous machinations. We can expect a very dynamic narrative; anyone who played the game knows that the chaos ensues as soon as the gaming session begins, and while it may seem odd for an adaptation, Among Us is actually perfect for a murder mystery type of show.
The Among Us animated series will be animated by Titmouse, the studio behind Netflix’s Big Mouth, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and many more animated releases.
The rest of the creatives include Forest Willard, Marcus Bromander, and Carl Neissser from Innersloth, Shannon and Chris Prynonski, Ben Kalina, and Antonio Cannobio from Titmouse, and Owen Dennis, the creator of Infinity Train, as the executive producer. Other details pertaining to the project are kept under wraps, and no network or streamer is currently attached, but those talks are, apparently, in progress.
The Among Us video game is a multi-platform release from 2018, which didn’t gain any significant traction until the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns were introduced. There’s rarely a better way to spend quarantine than to try and kill your friends in the virtual world.
The sudden spike in popularity happened in October 2020, when Among Us became Google Play’s number-one game in over 60 countries and iOS’s number-one in 55 countries worldwide. By the end of 2020, Among Us had more than 500 million active users.
The game is currently available on a variety of platforms, including Android, iOS, PC, and all the major previous- and current-gen consoles. Among Us also received a special physical release with additional content, and the VR version of the game was previously announced, and it’s still in development.
As for the Among Us animated series, it’s safe to say that the viewership, at least for the initial broadcasts/streaming, exists, and it’s plentiful. It’s yet another title added to the growing pile of gaming adaptations that are surprisingly good.
We can’t say with absolute certainty that the upcoming Among Us animated series will be on par with the previously released Super Mario Bros. Movie, but we can surely hope. Other gaming adaptations currently in works include the Metal Gear Solid movie, an animated Angry Birds television series, and a movie adaptation of Minecraft, with Jason Momoa as a leading role—scheduled to release in 2025.
As for the Among Us animated series, it’s still in the very early stages, so the release window hasn’t been set yet.