Adult Swim's The Elephant Arrives This December

Imagine an animation super-team. You couldn't get much more impressive than Patrick McHale (Over The Garden Wall), Pendleton Ward (Adventure Time), Ian Jones-Quartey (OK KO! Let's Be Heroes) and Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe). It's like an Avengers of Cartoon Network animators. And what brings these titans of animation together? A unique project called The Elephant, which is coming to Adult Swim and HBO Max in December.

And what is the Elephant exactly? Well, we don't really know and neither do the people who are making it. It's described as "an animated adventure so mysterious, even [we] don’t know what it’s about. "

What we do know, is that it's a rare creative experiment. Each of the three episodes was produced in isolation, with no idea what the others were working on. And somehow this is supposed to be weaved into a coherent whole. It's basically animated Madlibs. Sugar and Jones-Quartey worked as a team while Ward and McHale worked separately. To prevent the episodes getting out of control, the special is being overseen by "Games Masters" and Adventure Time veterans Jack Pendarvis and Kent Osborne, resulting in a storytelling experiment that unfolds as a collaborative surprise, ultimately merging into a single, unexpected narrative. 

“Every year around this time, we try to give the Adult Swim audience a gift they didn’t know they needed, and this year, it’s ‘Adult Swim’s The Elephant,’” said Michael Ouweleen, president of Adult Swim. “But really, the gift was working with this brilliant team and creating an excuse for their longtime friendship and creative partnership to continue and evolve. We can’t wait for you to see the results of this crazy experiment.”

The Elephant will premiere as a single special, broadcasting ad-free on Friday, December 19, at 11:00 PM, streaming the next day on HBO Max. Adult Swim will also debut a behind-the-scenes documentary Behind The Elephant that will air alongside the special's encore presentation on December 20. The documentary offers rare insight into the production of the special, featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. The documentary highlights the unique challenges of this one-of-a-kind production that made it such a truly original experience, both for the audience and the filmmakers themselves.

Animation production is by Titmouse.