Matt Groening Creates New Show 'Disenchantment' For Netflix

There are few names that can claim to have had a bigger impact on US television animation than Matt Groening.  Had he created only The Simpsons his place in animation history would be pretty significant, but he also went on to create Futurama, a series which while it didn't have such mainstream success is still iconic. Now, it seems he is about to make another new show- this time for Netflix.

Netflix has ordered 20 episodes of Groening's new adult animated comedy series Disenchantment. Set in a "crumbling medieval kingdom" called Dreamland, this looks like it could do for fantasy what Futurama did for fantasy. It will feature a hard-drinking young princess, her elf companion and her "personal demon". The world of Dreamland will be full of ogres, sprites, harpies and other fantasy creatures.

“Ultimately," says  Groening, "Disenchantment will be 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." Sounds like a hoot!

The series will be produced by Rough Draft Studios who previously brought us Futurama. The voice cast will feature Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre and Nat Faxon in the lead roles and will also feature Futurama vets  John Dimaggio, Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, David Herman, plus British comedy stars Matt Berry and Noel Fielding.

This sounds very exciting. Anyone who misses Futurama will be thrilled to see much of the cast and crew of that working on a new series, and the fantasy setting seems like a perfect fit. We imagine it will both send up fantasy tropes, and use it as a device to skewer modern life and culture at the same time- much like Futurama did with science-fiction. We're also excited to see that this is being aimed at adults, and working with Netflix will give them the freedom to take full advantage of it. It's a good time to be an adult animation fan.

The series will premiere in 2018 and will be released 10 episodes at a time.