Hulu has announced a series order for new animated original Koala Man, created by Michael Cusack (YOLO: Crystal Fantasy), with showrunners Benjit Samit & Dan Hernandez. The eight-episode package is being produced by 20th Television Animation, with Justin Roland, Princess Pictures and Bento Box as exec producers.
The series is an adult-targeted animated family comedy, where the patriarch lives a not-so-secret identity of Koala Man — an Australian suburban superhero with no powers but a burning passion to snuff out petty crime and bring order to the community.
Koala Man continues Hulu’s relationship with Roiland and 20th Television Animation who are behind hit adult animation Solar Opposites (Season 2 arrives March 26). The first season debuted May 8, 2020 and became the streaming platform’s most-watched Hulu Original comedy premiere of the year. Cusack, Samit and Hernandez are writers and exec producers
Australian multi-hyphenate creator Michael Cusack shot to notoriety with internet hits including Ciggy Butt Brain, featuring his cult favorites Damo & Darren, before he was hand-picked to make the off the wall Rick and Morty April Fools special Bushworld Adventures for Adult Swim. In 2020, he released his first series YOLO: Crystal Fantasy on Adult Swim and HBO Max.
Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit are writer-producers whose TV credits include Central Park, the Peabody-nominated One Day at a Time, The Tick, Super Fun Night and 1600 Penn. Their show Ultra Violet & Blue Demon, starring internationally famous luchador Blue Demon Jr., was recently ordered to series at Disney Channel. They are currently developing multiple shows under their overall with 20th Television. On the film side, Hernandez and Samit wrote Pokémon Detective Pikachu, which went on to gross $433 million at the box office and was the first adaptation of a video game to receive a “Fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. Upcoming feature work includes screenplays for Addams Family 2 (MGM) and Night Wolf (STX). Named among Variety’s 2019 “10 Screenwriters to Watch,” the duo met and began writing together while completing their undergraduate degrees at Brown University and have been writing-producing partners since. They are repped by 3Arts, UTA and Jackoway Tyerman.
Koala Man joins Hulu’s growing slate of adult animated Original series including Solar Opposites, Crossing Swords and the upcoming Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. (May 21) and Marvel’s Hit Monkey.
