Created by Toff Mazery and Edward Jesse, and executive produced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, also a noted Magic: The Gathering fan), Wolfboy and the Everything Factory is that (seemingly) increasingly rare thing: an animated series based on an original idea. The Apple TV+ series is about a kid who travels to a strange land where he’s able to use his imagination in fun, weird, and ultimately heroic ways. To get viewers excited for its debut on Friday, Gordon-Levitt (who voices a magical character named Professor Luxcraft) filmed this chatty video with one of his precocious co-stars: Archie Yates of Jojo Rabbit fame, who voices Sprout.
Worth it just to see Gordon-Levitt musing that “being an artist is sort of like being a wizard, in certain ways.”
Here’s the official synopsis to bring more context to that behind-the-scenes video: “Wolfboy and the Everything Factory follows Wolfboy (voiced by Kassian Akhtar), an imaginative oddball who discovers a strange realm at the centre of the earth where fantastical beings called ‘Sprytes’ create things for the natural world on the surface — clouds, trees, rabbits, dreams, hiccups, memories, time… everything! With his newfound Spryte friends, Wolfboy learns that not only can he use the creative energy of the Everything Factory to make his wild imagination come to life, but that he is destined to play a central role in an age-old battle between the forces of creation and destruction. Wolfboy soon comes to realise that being different is what makes him special — and that, ultimately, it’s the oddballs and dreamers who change the world.”
Here’s the trailer to give you an even better idea of what to expect.
The cast also includes Lilly Williams as Xandra and Cristina Milizia as Floof, plus there will be guest stars galore including Juno Temple (Ted Lasso) and John Lithgow (who fans of 1990s TV will remember was on 3rd Rock From the Sun with Gordon-Levitt, in addition to his zillions of other credits). Wolfboy and the Everything Factory arrives September 24 on Apple TV+. Check out Gizmodo’s list of spring TV shows to learn more about what’s coming soon to screens and streams.