April 2nd, 2025 
Jackson Murphy 
Iyanu, based on a graphic novel series, is a new animated series about a special girl who discovers divine powers. It premieres this Saturday April 5th at 9am on Cartoon Network and Sunday April 6th on Max. Joining me for a quick but deep dive into the show are four members of the creative team. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Brandon Easton (Series Writer): We just wanted to get to the emotional reality of it all. And in basic storytelling, within the first few minutes of any movie, TV show, even a song, you want to get to an emotional reality. And I believe that Iyanu’s emotional reality is the question, “Who am I?” [That] is the infrastructure or thematic scaffold for the entire show and… everybody is trying to figure out who they are in this grand opera of storytelling in ancient Nigeria. Trying to figure out what was the emotional truth and built from there.
Jackson Murphy: And she has to discover that through the training. How did you wanna show those sequences — build off of that when it comes to the introduction of the story and her figuring out who she really is?
Kerri Grant (Series Writer): Her training, of course, is a huge part of her growing into who she eventually becomes. Kind of like what Brandon said, “What’s the emotional reality of that?” You know you have to train, but it’s difficult because you’re not good yet at the thing you really wanna be good at. There’s some impatience in there. She’s also still a kid… with this huge task. How to kind of balance that — her being a kid, really wanting to be good at this thing, because literally the stakes are huge. But also balancing that with fighting against time and the impending force that she has to fight against. So basically balancing the reality of how a kid would handle that with this big thing on their shoulders, with showing her getting better at it and the very specific ways that she gets better at it — which is becoming more herself.
JM: I think a lot of kids will relate to the emotions that she’s going through and feeling that through this journey. This is based on a graphic novel series. How did you want to take the action, the look, the vibe, and the heroism of what’s on the page and put it onto the screen?
Vincent Edwards (Consulting Director): Well, from a design perspective, we had an amazing team to do that part of the lift. My job as a storyteller is to make the puppets seem to live. “The illusion of life” is what Walt Disney called it. And when you get good pencil acting and the storyboards, and in your animatic and in your animations — that support the vocal performance, that support the emotional beat — the characters become real. And so my job is to make sure that I can authentically deliver that illusion of life to essentially a lifeless drawing.
Iyanu Team – and Jackson
JM: And I think what helps the realism is this dialogue. There’s a lot of wisdom and advice from the character of Olori, her trainer, as well as characters contemplating various scenarios, situations… what they should do. In working with your voice actors, how was it bringing about the wisdom through their voice performances?
Paula Gammon Wilson (Voice Director): It was a lot of fun, frankly, because the scripts were excellent. Brandon, Kerri, thank you. I don’t always get material that is that excellent. So we had a really good time exploring what the emotional life of each script was. Sometimes when you have something that’s so dense, it can end up feeling a little preachy. And so with this cast, I wanted the dialogue to feel lived in, to feel like it came from someplace rooted really emotionally. And so we played a lot. We actually took the time to find where the dialogue felt realist in their bodies and in their own sort of intellectual journey with the characters. And in that way, I feel like we were able to tap into the wisdom and the sense of rootedness that was needed to tell the story in a way that made it feel relevant and alive.
VE: The metaphor I always use is: If it tastes like medicine, then we fail. If it tastes like Snickers, that’s the job.
JM: (laughs) You do a fantastic job. I know [the show was] at New York Comic Con. Do you want to share a fun experience you had while sharing this show with that great New York Comic Con audience?
BE: That was the second time we were at New York Comic Con. The first year, we only showed still images, and the second time we actually had visuals to show. And I feel like there was a groundswell of support, on a grassroots level. It was a sequel to the first time we went [in 2023]. In 2024, those folks were just as jazzed up. So it was very nice to see that the momentum and enthusiasm remained 12 months later.
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