In a very interesting turn of events, Cuphead comes full circle as it officially enters development to debut as a Netflix animated series.
I say interesting because Cuphead itself drew inspiration from the hand-drawn animated cartoons from the 1930s, in particular the works of Fleischer and Walt Disney. Instead of providing joy to children through their hijinks on the screen, though, Cuphead instead found an audience for players looking for the steepest challenges in run-and-gun titles.
The news comes from Hollywood Reporter, where it is also stated that the series will be called The Cuphead Show!, to be co-produced with King Features Syndicate, which itself is a part of Hearst Entertainment and Syndication. An official poster was also drawn up, which could serve as a first look at how The Cuphead Show! will look like. Check it out below.
The poster looks very interesting, to say the least. When I first heard the news drop, I was kind of excited to see an actual animated series for Cuphead that’s made in the same style as the video game. However, if we’re going by the poster, it looks like there will be some changes made to how Cuphead and his brother Mugman will look like.
This new animated series will be comedic in nature, and is expected to expand on the characters, lore and world of the game. It’s still unknown if it will be a direct follow-up to what transpired in Cuphead after the brothers free the various souls under the Devil, or if it will be set sometime before those events.
C.J. Kettler (Carmen Sandiego on Netflix) will executive produce for King Features while Cuphead creators Chad and Jared Moldenhauer will serve as executive producers for Studio MDHR. Netflix Animation will produce the series, and will be executive produced by Emmy and Annie award winner Dave Wasson (Mickey Mouse Shorts). The Cuphead Show! also marks the first ever longform animated series for King Features, who owns the rights to several popular comic properties like Popeye, Garfield and Archie.
As for the Cuphead the video game, its add-on content The Delicious Last Course was recently pushed back to 2020. What I’m really hoping for, however, is a proper sequel.
