Among Us became a COVID-19 sensation, challenging players to travel into space as armless astronauts and eliminate "impostors" among them... or die trying. It became the perfect antidote to lockdown-era gloom, and now, six years later, it's conquering streaming platforms.
Owen Dennis, known for his work on Infinity Train and Regular Show, created this series, which premiered in its entirety on Paramount+ on Friday (June 5). In this interview, we sat down with Dennis to discuss how he brought the whimsical world of Among Us to life as an animated series.
I heard this has been in the works for a long time. Can you tell me how it all led to this moment?
Owen Dennis Yes, I first pitched my series concept to Innersloth, I think, in 2022, because I knew they were looking for a possible TV adaptation. I pitched them my idea, which was to adapt the map of the Skeld into a detective series, and they loved it. We spent a few days working with a few writers, roughly fleshing out the plot, and they loved it too. We eventually partnered with CBS and started filming the series, which took, I think, a year and a half to two years.
There were many different ways to film the series... Can you tell us how you came to the decision to make it character-driven?
Yeah, I'm very character-focused. I love anthology series, I love sci-fi, I love fantasy, all of that stuff, I love big, high-concept projects, but I like to view them through the lens of character because that's how we perceive the world. When people watch Star Wars or something like that, they're viewing it through the lens of character. I think sometimes people want to read a whole Wikipedia page about the world the characters live in, but that's not how we perceive life. We're born, and then gradually, as we move forward, we learn how the world works, and every two years there's a new documentary about something. You're like, "What, where did that happen? What?" And that's how life goes. So, for me, it's important to focus on the characters first and then to reveal the world through the lens of those characters.
Among us
Paramount+
You also did a great job of hinting at the most important elements of the game itself—the protruding bones and, of course, how they move around the map. Can you explain how you used these elements for those of us familiar with the game?
Whenever you're working on an adaptation, you're essentially targeting two different audiences, which can be challenging: people who are familiar with the film adaptation and people who aren't. So you have to create something that appeals to both groups, and if I include a joke in the adaptation, like a long shot of them walking around the ship, someone who hasn't played the game can still look at it and say, "Oh, that's pretty funny." … So you make it a joke first, and then those who have played the game get an additional layer of meaning, and that's fine. Both are good options. So it's important to me that any reference to the game works for people who haven't played it, too.
Great, I understand what you're saying about dividing the audience you're dealing with, but frankly, it works both ways, because you're dealing with both the kids who will be drawn to the cartoon and the adults who will have to watch it with them. I think you've included quite a few jokes for adults.
When I think about jokes and stuff like that, I just make what I think is funny, and luckily, sometimes I think incredibly childish jokes are totally okay… Look, I think no matter how old I am, there will always come a point where I'm like, "That's a fart joke, and it's okay." I'm convinced that the first joke that ever was was about a fart. I think cavemen were sitting around a campfire and someone was surprised by a fart, and that was the first joke… I don't think there are any fart jokes in there, but I want to make sure there are jokes in there that adults, teenagers, and kids can get, and there are all kinds of jokes in there. Sometimes we'll have a couple of curse words, but I don't want to rely on them too much, because if a joke has to have curse words, and the curse words are the funny part, then it's not a joke anymore, and that works… I think if you want to make a joke for adults, there often has to be a little satire, a little commentary. I think that's what adults will latch onto. Kids might not get it, but they can also understand the rhythm of jokes, and they'll also latch onto other things that you might not fully understand… I remember in "Infinity Train," in the focus group for my show, there were a lot of kids who noticed the moment where the character was writing on a piece of paper… yeah, that was kind of a joke, I don't know, but the kids really loved it. Those things happen.
Did all of these actors match your ideas about these characters?
We came up with the characters first, and then we came up with the actors who fit them, and they were all [wonderful]. We all really liked them. They were our first choice. They were all great. I'm very happy with everyone who was on our team. It was great. I love them all.
Among Us, available to stream on Paramount+
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