EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a clip of Netflix’s Animal from Plimsoll Productions, which launches Wednesday.
Narrated by big-hitters Bryan Cranston, Rashida Jones, Rebel Wilson and Pedro Pascal, the series utilizes the latest filming tech such as gimbals and drones to follow eight families of the natural world including big cats, dogs, marsupials and octopuses. Series two, which features narration from Andy Serkis, Anthony Mackie, David Harbour and Uzo Aduba, has already been commissioned.
Having started researching in late 2019, series producer Bill Markham said “serious discussion had taken place” over whether the show could continue to be made once Covid-19 struck.
What followed was “80 or so shoots over the next 16 months skirting around various locations around the world,” Markham told Deadline.
“I’m sure everyone in film and television can relate to the challenge that followed. It meant much ducking and diving by an incredible production team, working from bedrooms and kitchen tables under very trying circumstances.”
Having celebrity narrators allowed Plimsoll to highlight the animals’ contrasting characters, added Markham, praising the connection between, for example, Wilson and marsupials (featured in the video), or Pascal and octopuses. Between them, the eight celebrity narrators for seasons one and two have almost 30M Instagram followers.
“I’m hoping that new audiences will arrive because of Rashida Jones or Uzo Aduba but leave with a new appreciation of our animal stars,” added Markham.
Martha Holmes and Tom Hugh-Jones are executive producers and the series is produced by Plimsoll’s Anuschka Schofield, Adrian Seymour, Alex Minton and Rob Morgan.