Duplass Brothers Get 2 Season Pick-Up for Animals at HBO

As far as hard-working filmmakers and actors go in this day and age, no pair has proliferated throughout the television and independent film landscapes quite like Mark and Jay Duplass. Indeed, mere months after their solid relationship dramedy series, Togetherness, received a second season order from HBO, THR is now reporting that the pair have landed a two-season order from the channel for Animals, an animated series that screened at Sundance and landed the Duplass brothers as executive producers. The series centers on talking animals, set largely in and around New York City, and the animation is courtesy of Starburns Industries, the production house behind cult animated hit Rick and Morty. In a statement about the two-season pick-up, Mark Duplass said that the deal continues his brother and he’s want to bring “the principles of indie film to the TV space,” describing the entire deal as “beyond belief.”

Animals is created by advertising creative leads Phil Matarese and Mike Luciano, and the program won top awards at the 2013 New York Television Festival. Luciano and Matarese also gave a window into the genesis of the project, which they say was born out of exchanges they had at their advertising jobs from the perspectives of two pigeons that sat outside their windows at work. It’s hard to get excited about yet another animated series based on the premise of talking animals, but the show’s distinct focus on New York City geography, to say nothing of the Duplass brothers largely unimpeachable taste in projects speaks loudly to the promise of this show about figurative flying rats and, well, literal rats.

Animals will premiere in early 2016.

Culled from Collider