Netflix has bought the rights of The Simpsons creator Matt Groening’s new animated series Disenchantment, which will debut on the entertainment streaming channel on 17 August with 10 episodes.
Disenchantment, which marks Groening’s first show in nearly two-decades, is described as “an adult fantasy about a crumbling medieval kingdom of Dreamland”, following the misadventures of a hard-drinking young princess, Bean, her aptly named, feisty elf companion Elfo, and Bean’s ‘personal demon’, Luci. Along the way, this odd trio will be seen to encounter ogres, sprites, harpies, imps, trolls, walruses and lots of human fools.
Groening described Disenchantment (which has been picked up for 20 episodes) in a statement, as a show “about life and death, love and sex, and how to keep laughing in a world full of suffering and idiots, despite what the elders and wizards and other jerks tell you”.
Rough Draft Studios, which animated Groening’s Futurama, will animate Disenchantment. The ULULU Company is producing the series for Netflix.
Disenchantment has a talented voice cast featuring Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) as Bean, Nat Faxon as Elfo and Eric Andre as Luci. Other voice artists include John DiMaggio, Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, David Herman, Matt Berry, Jeny Batten, Rich Fulcher, Noel Fielding and Lucy Montgomery – all of whom have worked with Groening in the past as well.
Disenchantment will be co-executive-produced by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, Groening’s frequent Simpsons collaborators (and the co-writers behind the classic Simpsons episode Marge Gets a Job).
In April, Groening made history when The Simpsons aired its 636th episode, surpassing Gunsmoke to become the longest-running scripted prime time series. The show premieres its 30th season this fall.