Breaking boundaries: Hamish Steele’s “DeadEndia” heads to Netflix

DeadEndia - Netflix

Netflix and London-based Blink Industries are working on a new 2D animated series, DeadEndia, based on the graphic novels from Eisner-award-winning creator Hamish Steele, published by Nobrow Press.

Offering comedy, heartbreak and a focus on LGBTQ+ representation that has made it a hit with readers, DeadEndia follows the adventures of Barney and Norma, two humans who stumble upon the supernatural secrets of Dead End, an amusement park haunted house!

Joining their adventures are Pugsley, a pug possessed by a demon king and Courtney, the guardian of the elevator to the 13 Planes of Existence.

DeadEndia by Hamish Steele

Two books have been published in the series so far: The Watcher’s Test and The Broken Halo, with a third in development.

DeadEndia actually began life as an animated short produced for Frederator’s Cartoon Hangover. The new series, starring Zach Barack as transgender Barney (Spider-Man: Far from Home) and Kody Kavitha as neurodiverse Norma (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) will be produced at the Blink Industries’ London studios and premiere globally on Netflix in 2021.

Hamish Steele is a London-based animation director, comic artist and writer who by day works at BAFTA-nominated Blink Industries, who have developed animated shows with Netflix, the BBC, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Hangover. By night, he’s a comic creator who has both self published and published through Nobrow Press. Now, those two worlds have merged…

DeadEndia is about terrifying demons, vengeful ghosts and mysterious magic,” says Hamish. “It is also about coming of age in a world that wasn’t made for you. It’s a drama about found family, identity and making mistakes. And of course, it’s a laugh out loud comedy!

“I’ve always dreamed of making the show I needed as a lonely, horror-obsessed closeted gay kid, and thanks to Netflix and our ridiculously talented, diverse and representative writers room and crew, we have shot way past my dreams and into wildest fantasy territory!

“By the way,” Hamish says on Twitter, “Showrunning your first TV series during lockdown is quite hard!”

The writing team includes Coronation Street and Wolfblood writer Furquan Akhtar, Jen Bardekoff, Brydie Lee-Kennedy (Space Chickens and more), actor-writer Elijah W Harris, writer-director Nicole Paglia, Mia Resella and illustrator, animator and designer Dashiell M. Silva, creator of The Big O, your one-stop guide to the Oscars

Jen has “been dying to talk about writing on Deadendia ever since I joined the team. I’m so proud to be a part of it! This one is gonna be big for LGBTQ representation.”

“Writing on this show is one of the most special experiences I’ve ever had,” agrees Mia, “so so proud to be part of this team!

Blink Industries Max Loubaresse provides storyboards, who previously worked with Disney, Carton Network, Passion Pictures.

The series also features Emily Osment as Courtney (Almost Family, The Kominsky Method), Alex Brightman as Pugsley (Beetlejuice The Musical), Clinton Leupp a.k.a. Miss Coco Peru as Pauline Phoenix (Will & Grace), Kenny Tran as Logs (Maybe Happy Ending) and Kathreen Khavari as Badyah (Marvel Rising, Insecure, Big Little Lies).

“Immensely excited and proud to be representing pups everywhere in Netflix’s newest animated series,” says Alex. “The cast is fantastic. The show is absurd and wonderful. Looking forward to being in all of your living rooms soon!”

• Hamish Steele is online at hamishsteele.co.uk

• Blink Industries is online at blinkindustries.tv

Check out Hamish Steele’s Deadendia and Pantheon books on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)



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