We’ve Got More info on The Gorillaz Animated TV Series

Everything we know so far about the upcoming animated series.

A major reason why the Gorillaz have been inactive for seven years was because artist Jamie Hewlett felt like the animation aspect of the project had become muted in later albums and the artist had become stifled. This is very noticeable in the videos for “Plastic Beach”, most of which were traditional music videos starring the guest singer and didn’t include any signs of the virtual band members themselves. The recent Gorillaz revival has given Hewlett more creative room regarding his involvement, including a phone app, a motion capture interview, a clothing line and even a TV series.

The Gorillaz TV series was announced fairly recently but Hewlett can now confirm even more information regarding the show: There will be ten episodes in total, the series will make its debut in 2018 and Hewlett himself will direct the first and last episodes. While ten episodes sound unambitious, we can count ourselves lucky enough to even get a TV series in the first place! Gorillaz have stayed in the music video format for years, with each of their videos showcasing the potential to be expanded into television or film but these rumors had always been squashed, so 10 episodes are better than nothing at all.

Hewlett is the only artist attached to the Gorillaz brand because his drawing style is so unique and hard to imitate but this comes at the cost of his creative energy. So Hewlett’s decision to lessen his workload on the TV series is a smart move and will give career opportunities for other animation directors. In an interview with Exclaim, Hewlett stated: “I think even attempting to do it all by myself will kill me.”

Gorillaz music videos have often shown a cinematic flair that matches the energy and ambition of a medium that’s bigger than a short film, I believe 10 episodes is enough time to get across a narrative that’s hard to tell through music videos. With longer time frames, Hewlett can help develop our musically talented heroes as characters and make them interact in ways we would have never imagined in their music videos.

Yes, 2018 is a while away but Hewlett deserves a breather after doing so much impressive work for Gorillaz’ newest album Humanz, including a fun and quirky horror-themed music video for the song “Saturn Barz” starring 2D, Noodles, Murdoc and Russel respectively. Also, keep in mind that video was designed as a 360 experience, I’m surprised that Hewlett isn’t a wrinkled old corpse after so much work. The more time we give Hewlett, the longer he has to perfect the show and do something that lives up to the Gorillaz project as a whole.

 

You can check out the awesomely spooky”Saturn Barz” video here: