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To say that fans of Robert Kirkmanâs Invincible had pretty high expectations when it came to Amazonâs Steven Yeun (Mark Grayson / Invincible) & JK Simmons (Nolan Grayson / Omni-Man)-voiced animated adaptation would be putting it mildly. Thankfully, those expectations were not only met but blown apart in ways viewers are still learning to appreciate. So much so that Invincible was renewed for a second and third season in April 2021. And then, a year later, Yeun shared a teaser letting folks know that recording was getting underway. But five months later, where do things stand? Thanks to The Walking Dead star Khary Payton (Markus Grimshaw / Black Samson), we have an update to pass along courtesy of his interview with Daniel Merrifield (aka The Movie Dweeb).
Running between 48:15 â 54:16, Payton and Merrifield get into great conversations about working with Kirkman, how the voice cast became a mini âThe Walking Deadâ reunion & more. But with regards to the second season of the animated series, Payton shared that the recording work was done for the second season and that they had already moved on to the third season. But when it came to the animation side, Payton explained that more time was needed because of the glut of big studio animation projects that needed to be worked on because of the pandemic. But even though he says itâs still âgonna take awhile,â Payton made sure folks knew that the artists are taking their time to guarantee the quality of the first season is maintained.
In honor of âInvincible Fridayâ from back in April of this year, we have a look at Yeun from the recording studio showing him recording this teaser- with the teaser meant to be a wink-wink-nudge-nudge that recording sessions are underway. Hereâs a look at the clip, but donât watch it too many times or youâll have âNow!â rambling around your brain for the rest of the day (trust us on this one):
Speaking with Collider in support of his film The Humans earlier this year, Yeun shared why heâs âreally excitedâ and why he believes viewersâ strong, positive reaction to Invincible is a harbinger of great things to come for adult animation:
Yeun is âReally Excitedâ for âBonkersâ Second Season: âIâve talked to Robert [Kirkman], here and there. Heâs super excited about it. He thinks Season 2 is gonna be even better than Season 1, which I have no doubt about. If you go to his source material, âInvincibleâ is an incredible comic, and just thinking about how much story hasnât been told from that run, itâs gonna be bonkers. Iâm really excited about it.â
Yeun Sees Strong Reactions to âInvincibleâ as Sign of Bigger Things to Come for Adult Animation: âIâll be honest, I did not expect this level of response. People really enjoyed the show. Thatâs not to say that I thought the show wouldnât be enjoyed. I just didnât know how many people were coming to it like that. To me, I think it speaks to Americaâs appetite now for adult animation, which is really cool. I grew up on it. I think all of us, of our generation and below, grew up on it. Largely, our programming was dictated by the generations before us, that didnât necessarily love animation that way. Weâre in a weird, cool time where Iâm seeing so many kids watch anime and so many people watch adult animation. People are learning about Don Hertzfeldt. Itâs thriving. I think weâre probably on the precipice of right before things really pop off. I think weâre gonna get some hopefully [Hayao] Miyazaki levels of animation. We do with Pixar, but I just mean coming from different places. Itâs a new world. Itâs certainly all brand new.â