'Slumberkins' Stars Pamela Adlon and Jason Ritter Lead Their Fox Family Home in Exclusive Jim Henson Company Series Premiere Clip
The Jim Henson Company is debuting a brand new children's series on Apple TV+ this week, titled Slumberkins. Based on the emotional support books and resources brand of the same name, Slumberkins "brings to life characters from the beloved books while empowering the emotional wellness of children through supportive storytelling." In a brand new exclusive clip from the series premiere, we get to see the fox family — guided by parents Pamela Adlon (King of the Hill) and Jason Ritter (Frozen II) — as they find a new burrow to call home. Check out the full clip above.
In addition to Adlon and Ritter, Slumberkins features an extensive voice cast, including young newcomers Brayden Morgan as Bigfoot, Olive Baity as Unicorn, Miles Flack as Sloth, Araceli Prasarttongosoth as Yak, and Yonas Kibreab as Fox. Jennifer Hale (Ralph Breaks the Internet) serves as the show's narrator. Additional voice cast Adelynn Spoon (Luck) as Kit, Yvette Nicole Brown (Big Shot) as Yak's mother, Josh Banday (Upload) as Bigfoot's Father, and many more. Slumberkins was created for television by Alex Rockwell, whose past work includes shows such as Word Party and Pajanimals. The also features original music from Emmy Award-nominated singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson.
Recently, The Jim Henson Company President Halle Stanford spoke with Animation Magazine about the new project and revealed how the legacy puppeteer studio got involved. "I was on the lookout for an idea, creator or property that could help us imagine this type of series, as I was an anxious child myself," Stanford explained. "Lo and behold, the universe delivered!"
She continued, "I was so lucky to meet Slumberkins creators Callie Christensen and Kelly Oriard at Alt Summit, a conference for female influencers and entrepreneurs in creative fields. I fell in love with the intention and design of Slumberkins and brought on board the dream team of Alex Rockwell as our showrunner and Jim Henson's Creature Shop to realize the series." Notably, Stanford executive produces Slumberkins alongside Rockwell.
Speaking about crafting the puppets for the show, Stanford said, "Our Creature Shop realized the character art from the books into performable and engaging characters, and their work reminded me of the type of puppet work we did on Bear in the Big Blue House and Fraggle Rock. But for the overall look, Mark Caballero, our supervising director and producer, brought his keen stop-motion animator eye to our series. He wanted it to feel alive, warm, playful, beautiful and cinematic." Slumberkins premieres Nov. 4, on Apple TV+.