Once you create a hit show that reaches iconic status, for a few years you have an open door to any studio in town. This is the situation Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland are in now…because they brought us Rick And Morty, pretty much anything they sneeze is going to be greenlit. If Roiland says “I wanna ramble drunkely into a microphone for a few hours and then make a video game out of it,” POOF, his wish is granted.
More recently Roiland produced Solar Opposites for Hulu, and Harmon got something approved for Fox about dysfunctional Greek gods. Now we’re hearing of yet another cartoon with one of those names attached…though in this case, the circumstances are a bit different.
Koala Man, also headed to Hulu and the product of 20th Television Animation, has Roiland listed as executive producer. But though he’s likely the main reason we’re getting the thing, he’s not the man who thought it up. Koala Man is the product of Australian cartoonist Michael Cusack, who created a Rick and Morty-related April Fools Day toon for Adult Swim called Bushworld Adventures. He’ll be voicing the title character…but is this guy more koala than man, or vice-versa?
Koala Man, according to the official description, is an Australian superhero. He heroicially battles crime in the city of….well, he doesn’t live in a city, so he has to make do in a suburban community. He balances his civic super-duties with his responsibilities to his family, who are fully aware of what he does for a…living? He probably doesn’t make money. He has no superpowers either, nor zillions of dollars’ worth of tech gadgets to make up the difference. He’s Koala Man — and that’s all you get.
Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez, the co-writers of Detective Pikachu, have been hired as showrunners. Koala Man has been given a first-season order of eight episodes, and will premiere on Hulu whenever it’s ready.
