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Move aside The Last of Us and Fallout, there’s a new video game TV adaptation in town based on the highly popular online multiplayer Among Us. However, the creator of the new series says you don’t have to have played the game to enjoy the new project.
“I think anyone who played the game is going to love it. I also think that anyone who wants to watch an animated TV show, or a mystery, or comedy, it works outside of just being a game adaptation,” says Owen Dennis to GamesRadar+. “I don’t want to make things that are just an adaptation of something else. I want to be able to stand on its own merits, so this does stand on its own merits. This is its own thing.”
In fact, voice actors Kimiko Glenn, who plays crystal-loving Cyan, Randall Park, who plays the captain Red, Yvette Brown, who voices HR manager Orange, and Elijah Wood, who voices intern Green, have never actually played the game before. “I think anyone who starts watching is going to have a hard time stopping, just because it’s so smart and so funny,” said Glenn, and Park added, “If you’re a fan of sci-fi, if you’re a fan of mystery and suspense and horror, even, this show touches on all of that.”
However, there are hidden Easter eggs for fans, and some are more obvious than others, such as crewmates calling meetings and how using vents automatically makes you susocious – we won’t spoil the rest for you here. But Dennis says he never wanted to “shoehorn in Easter eggs if they don’t work for the story,” and that everything included “has a reason for existing, besides just it was in the game.” This is so “someone who has never watched the game won’t need backstory, and won’t need to go do homework to learn to understand what’s happening.”
Among Us is a murder mystery deduction game, where players suit up as little colour-coded astronauts who must complete tasks to keep the spacecraft running. However, amongst the crewmates, there is an imposter or two who sabotage tasks and pick players off one by one. The TV show follows a similar premise, but due to the mini game not having much of a storyline compared to heavily scripted games, Dennis had the liberty of creating the drama. Dennis, known for his other animated series The Regular Show, took inspiration from sci-fi classics like The Thing and Alien, which share similarities with the game itself.
Because of the nature of the game, Dennis sees the possibility of making more seasons. “I know roughly how I would want to carry it on. I would try to take further inspiration from the fact that every time you play the game, it’s a little bit different,” said the creator. “I would want to take further inspiration from that idea, and that’s, I think, about as far as I can say.”
Among Us is out now on Paramount Plus. See our Among Us review for our verdict. For more, check out our guide to the best shows on Paramount Plus, and keep up with upcoming video game movies.