Feast Your Eyes on Wakanda ‘Toon

Disney+ has released the trailer and voice cast of its animated Black Panther spin-off, Eyes of Wakanda, which streams from August 1.

The four-part Marvel Animation series is debuting earlier than planned following its reception in June at the Annecy International Animation Festival.

Director/executive producer Todd Harris has worked on some of the world’s biggest film franchises from John Wick to the MCU.

He collaborated closely with director Ryan Coogler as a storyboard artist on Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and was an illustrator on Sinners.

Dubbed an “anthology adjacent” series, Eyes of Wakanda is animated in “a graphic 3D style by Axis Animation studio, full of exaggerated character designs and 2D visual effects,” Variety reports, citing how the opening sequence of the first episode was hand-drawn:

Following this adventure is a brief establishment of the overall premise of the show: “hop-scotching through centuries” in four self-contained stories following Wakandan agents as they retrieve different artefacts stolen from their nation. “It’s mostly a spy story,” Harris said, continuing to describe each of these episodes as a study in seeing the reaction of these agents to the real world, “balancing what they see with their nationalist agenda.”

Among those lending their voices are Winnie Harlow, Cress Williams, Patricia Belcher, Larry Herron, Adam Gold, Lynn Whitfield, Jacques Colimon, Jona Xiao, Isaac Robinson-Smith, Gary Anthony Williams, Zeke Alton, Steve Toussaint and Anika Noni Rose.

In other Disney+ news:

Season five of Only Murders in the Building (September 9) has Charles, Oliver and Mabel investigating the suspicious death of their apartment building’s doorman.

Guest stars include Meryl Streep, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Richard Kind, Nathan Lane, Bobby Cannavale, Renée Zellweger, Logan Lerman, Christoph Waltz, Téa Leoni Keegan-Michael Key, Beanie Feldstein, Dianne Wiest and Jermaine Fowler.

S2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians sets sail on December 10 with cyclops Tyson aboard (see teaser trailer here).

It’s based on the second book, The Sea of Monsters, and has the hero and his best friend Grover searching for the Golden Fleece.