Owen Dennis isn't afraid to break stereotypes in Among Us. That's why the new Paramount+ animated series, which premiered unexpectedly on Friday, feels as tense and delightfully funny as the wildly popular indie game it's based on, rather than a corporate cash-grab.
«"Among Us' character design is the most iconic of the last 10-15 years. Everyone knows him," the creator and executive producer told TheWrap. "That means you can do really weird things with him, and people will still see him as the same character, and that'll be fine.".
In practice, this means that the cartoon astronauts in the series blush through their visors when they feel confused. Chaotic emotions are conveyed through anime-style scenes that deviate sharply from the show's typical visual style. Characters without mouths, faces, or hands often use their entire bodies to express dark thoughts or panic—a technique Dennis learned while animating One-One from Infinity Train, a confused robot with no mouth and two vertically positioned eyes.
«"I really wanted the storyboard artists and our artists working on each of these sections to be emotionally invested in the process and let their imaginations run wild," Dennis said. "That's why you end up with characters that are very strange in some places.".
At first glance, Among Us seems like a video game impossible to adapt. Released in 2018 by Innersloth, this multiplayer game takes place on a space station, where players are assigned two roles: crew members or impostors. While completing their tasks, crew members must vote against suspected impostors. Meanwhile, impostors must eliminate crew members one by one. This social deduction game is essentially a digital version of popular party games like Mafia or Werewolf, and it has become incredibly popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. By November 2020, the game had become so popular that it had nearly 500 million monthly active users.
Adapting a series that relies so heavily on the players' choices is no easy task. But Owen Dennis is no ordinary showrunner.
Dennis's first major project was writing and storyboarding for Regular Show, a brilliant, quirky slacker comedy from J.G. Quintel. Then, in 2019, Dennis created his own show for Cartoon Network, the wildly original Infinity Train, an anthology series where characters must confront their flaws in hopes of escaping a seemingly endless train full of wacky cars.
In a television landscape where animation—especially animation aimed at children—is often overlooked, Infinity Train was a breakthrough, earning widespread critical acclaim for its complex characters, fantastical world, and unique visual style. Like Over the Garden Wall and Steven Universe before it, Infinity Train has often been hailed as a masterpiece of animated television.
This widespread praise is one of the main reasons why the series' finale was so disappointing. Despite Dennis and his team's desire to continue the series, Infinity Train received a fourth and final season in 2021. A year later, it became one of 37 projects removed from HBO Max as part of Warner Bros. Discovery's broader initiative to phase out children's and family programming. The series is now available exclusively via VOD.
«"I won't lie, it's a very difficult situation right now," Dennis said, answering a question about the current state of animation. "A lot of animation companies see it as primarily for children, and a lot of them have stopped making animated films for children because kids are on YouTube, so they say, 'Why should we hire them?' That means a lot of animators are out of work right now.".
Partly due to the industry's dire state, Among Us feels like a love letter to animation. Dennis enlisted artists from OK KO! Let's Be Heroes for many of the series' ambitious, anime-inspired scenes. Like Adventure Time or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Among Us places more emphasis on using animation to convey the emotional truth of the story than on adhering to any particular style.
Dennis approached his version of "Among Us" by first focusing on the game's overarching themes. "Who do you trust? Why do you trust who you trust?" Dennis said. "I wanted the entire series to be about that theme.".
Having settled on a central theme, Dennis began assembling a roster of doomed crew members, each with their own complex relationships. Red (Randall Park) is the cocky captain with a mysterious history with the skeptical head of security (Ashley Johnson). Black (Liv Hewson) is a goth geologist who clashes with her hippie gemologist colleague Cyan (Kimiko Glenn). The cooks, Yellow (Debra Wilson) and Brown (Phil LaMarr), are best friends. And then there are the outsider characters with less obvious allies and enemies: the overly cheerful head of human resources, Orange (Yvette Nicole Brown); the energetic unpaid intern, Green (Elijah Wood); the wealthy pageant winner, White (Patton Oswalt); the competent and handsome Dr. Blue (Dan Stevens); and the conspiracy-theory-loving engineer, Lime (Wayne Knight).
From there, the creation of Among Us revolved around releasing the crew onto a space station secretly occupied by a shape-shifting monster. Dennis cited The Thing, Alien, Star Trek, and Brooklyn 99 as inspirations for his series.
«"It's essentially a comedy about work," Dennis said.
Like the classic horror films that inspired Dennis and this game, the Among Us television adaptation doesn't shy away from gore and dismemberment. Most character deaths are accompanied by cartoonish pools of red blood and shots of comically large bones.
«"Anyone who's seen 'Infinity Train' knows that I've definitely killed characters in ways that are abhorrent. There are many ways to make death unpleasant, and they don't necessarily involve removing organs from a person's body," Dennis said.
The team set a fairly standard bar for how much blood and gore could be included in the series. "We tried to make sure that if you're okay with your kids playing this game, you're okay with what we did," he said.
But when it comes to what's considered age-appropriate and what's not, Dennis noted that the lines are always blurred. Teens and children always watch shows intended for older audiences, especially when it comes to animation.
«"I've always loved making things for kids and teenagers who watch things they're not really supposed to watch, but they enjoy them. We've all done it," Dennis said. "The things we watched at friends' houses because our moms wouldn't let us, or the nanny showed us because she didn't care—those are good. They're very memorable.".
Despite the animation industry facing challenging times due to studios' declining investment in the art form and the threat posed by AI, Dennis remains optimistic. The Among Us showrunner noted that the art form has "never been more popular," explaining that animated films consistently account for between 20% and 25% of all box office revenue, while the popularity of video games has led to an increasing preference for animation among audiences. Furthermore, the indie scene has experienced a significant boom thanks to the development of the creator economy.
Dennis also has several projects he's excited about. "I'd love to work on Star Fox," Dennis said. "I've read Stephen Gilbert's book, 'The Ratman Papers,' and it's really good. I'd love to adapt it into an animated film for adults and teens.".
However, Dennis noted that most of these ambitious animated projects cannot be realized without the support of studios, streaming services, and television networks. To create the next wave of generation-defining animated films, these corporations need to start betting on cheaper projects rather than hoping that the next $150 million film will last a few more months.
«"There's an audience, but we also need to create an ecosystem," Dennis said. "You can't just continue farming on the same land without cultivating the soil.".
Among Us is now available to stream on Paramount+.
The article "'Among Us' Is 'Alien' Meets 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine'" first appeared on TheWrap.