Matt Groening’s Disenchantment will get the Game of Thrones references out of the way early

Animator Matt Groening is behind The Simpsons and Futurama, two of the most beloved animated series of the past 25 years. Later this month, he’ll be debuting a brand new cartoon series on Netflix: Disenchantment. Set in the fantasy kingdom of DreadmLand, the show will follow the misadventures of the rebellious and alcoholic Princess Bean (Abbi Jacobson), an elf named Elfo (Nat Faxon), and the demon Luci (Eric Andre).

Clearly, comparisons to Game of Thrones are inevitable, but Groening told The Hollywood Reporter that this show won’t go as heavy on pop culture references as his previous projects. “We wanted the world of Dreamland to resonate and be real,” he said. “We found the best way to tell an arc was to plot it dramatically and add jokes.” There is at least one Thrones reference that shows up early in the pilot episode, though. It’s in the trailer, where the prince impales himself on a chair that looks a lot like the Iron Throne. “We wanted to get it out of the way because people are going to be looking for it.”

Disenchantment also looks a lot like The Simpsons and Futurama, but Groening emphasized that this is a different animal. “The Simpsons is a family sitcom, Futurama was a workplace comedy, and Disenchantment is a show about three damaged people in a magical world trying to figure out who they are and where they are going,” he said. “The show takes some dark turns and there is some tragedy. If you’re sensitive, you might tear up at some point.”

There’s also some “pretty risque material,” as any show getting made in the shadow of Game of Thrones should have. “But we even it out: It is only 50 percent people you would like to see naked.”

In the past, Groening’s shows have appeared on Fox, at least at first. (The last few seasons of Futurama aired on Comedy Central.) So why is Disenchantment airing on Netflix? “They basically said yes after a very quick pitch and have been completely supportive thereon — and that is unusual in the history of TV. There is usually a lot more worry and second-guessing as time goes on.” That’s a change from how Fox treated Futurama:

"They so much didn’t like it, they scheduled the show for 7 p.m. on Sunday nights and then made the slogan of the network: ‘The fun begins at 8 p.m.’ So, I wasn’t able to just read between the lines, I was able to read the line."

Being on Netflix means Groening and his team can write the show in a different way, too. “We don’t have to backtrack and remind people where they are in the story,” he said. “We don’t have to do a sitcom reset [for each episode] that we’re all used to.”

Disenchantment makes its Netflix debut on August 17.

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