Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is an American animated television series created by Radford Sechrist and developed by Bill Wolkoff, adapted from Sechrist's 2015 webcomic Kipo. The series is produced by American company DreamWorks Animation Television in partnership with South Korean animation studio Mir.
The young adult animated series follows a teenage girl named Kipo Oak, who is searching for her father after being forced to flee from her burrow, and must explore the post-apocalyptic surface world ruled by mutated animals to find him. Along the way, she befriends human survivors Wolf and Benson, and the mutant animals Dave and Mandu.
The series has been critically acclaimed for its design, characterization, music, world-building, animation, voice acting, humor, diversity, and action sequences. The series is particularly notable for its representation of LGBT characters and characters of color. The series was removed from Netflix on June 26, 2026, due to the expiration of DreamWorks' license to keep the series on the streaming service.
Plot In 2020, animals mutated into anthropomorphic creatures called "mutes". Mutes rose up against the human race, forcing the majority of it to live in underground cities called burrows. In the 23rd century, Los Angeles has been reduced to a post-apocalyptic wasteland collectively known as "Las Vistas".
In the first season, Kipo Oak, a thirteen-year-old girl, is separated from her father Lio after their burrow is attacked by a "mega monkey", a colossal, mutated spider monkey. Traversing Las Vistas, she befriends Wolf, a cold and hardened girl who has been surviving on her own after her adoptive wolf family turned on her, the upbeat Benson and his insect companion Dave, and the mute pig Mandu. Together, they set out to find the burrow Kipo's community fled to after their first one was destroyed. During their adventures, Kipo discovers that she has the DNA of a mega jaguar, and can transform her body. As the five journey along they make many mute allies and enemies, including the tyrant Scarlemagne, a mandrill mute who intends to subjugate humanity with his mind-controlling pheromones and force the other mutes into an utopian empire which he will rule with a human army.
In the second season, Kipo learns she was experimented on with mute DNA by her parents before her birth, turning her into a half-human, half-jaguar hybrid, and that her mother Song, previously thought to be deceased, is actually the mega monkey who destroyed her burrow, mutated as a side effect from her pregnancy and mind-controlled with Scarlemagne's pheromones by Dr. Emilia, her parents' former employer who now leads a resistance group against mutes. She also discovers that Scarlemagne was originally an ordinary mandrill named Hugo whom Kipo's parents turned sentient and secretly raised as their son, but grew to hate them after they were forced to abandon him. Kipo frees Song from her mind control and defeats Scarlemagne, while Emilia plots to revert mutes back into normal animals.
In the third season, Kipo creates the "Human Mute Ultimate Friendship Alliance" (HMUFA) to fight Emilia, but struggles to make humans and mutes work together. Emilia creates an anti-mute cure with Kipo's DNA, and it is with this cure that Kipo turns her mother human again. Ultimately, Kipo succeeds in making peace between mutes and humans, reforming Scarlemagne in the process. With her plans foiled and unwilling to accept change, Emilia turns herself into a mega mute to kill Kipo and her friends, but she is defeated with Scarlemagne's help, who sacrifices himself to save Kipo. Five years later, Kipo happily lives on the surface where humans and mutes finally co-exist in harmony.
Characters Main
Kipo Oak (voiced by Karen Fukuhara) – An enthusiastic and curious young girl who is searching for her people. Later in the show, it is revealed that Kipo's parents injected her with mute DNA, giving her the powers of a huge purple jaguar. Wolf (voiced by Sydney Mikayla) – Kipo's best friend and adopted younger sister. A hardened and young survivor on the surface world who was raised by mutant wolves. She wields a spear made from the stinger of a deathstalker scorpion that she dubs "Stalkie". Benson Mekler (voiced by Coy Stewart) – A level-headed and happy-go-lucky surface survivor, Dave's best friend, and last of the "fanatics", a group previously at war with Dave's species for two centuries. Dave (voiced by Deon Cole) – A mutant insect and Benson's best friend who repeatedly molts from baby to child to teen to adult to elderly. Between his adult to elderly phase, he briefly assumes an extremely powerful, super saiyan-like form which has little to no longevity, a recurring gag. He is the last of his kind, a species of identical-looking insects who all shared the name Dave and were at war for over two centuries with the "fanatics" over a cooling fan. Mandu (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) – A teal mutant pig with four eyes and six legs adopted by Kipo, who named her after a type of food prepared by her mother. Lio Oak (voiced by Sterling K. Brown) – Kipo's father, a scientist, and teacher of their underground community. He and Song were originally working for Dr. Emilia to turn mutes back into normal animals so humanity could reclaim the surface. Hugo "Scarlemagne" Oak (voiced by Dan Stevens) – A deranged, flamboyant, power-hungry mandrill and Kipo's adoptive older brother. He seeks to create a mute-only utopia and rule Las Vistas with an army of enslaved humans. Due to human experimentation, the pheromones in his sweat can control primate minds. Song Oak (voiced by Jee Young Han) – Kipo's mother and Lio's wife who originally worked with him to revert mutes back into normal animals before they changed their minds; thought to be deceased, she is later revealed to be alive. Dr. Emilia (voiced by Amy Landecker) – A cold-hearted, manipulative, remorseless, and arrogant human scientist who wants to end the mutes' existence.
Supporting
Mod Frogs Jamack (voiced by Jake Green) – A Mod Frog and enemy of Kipo after she caused him to be banished from his pack, but later becomes an ally. Mrs. Sartori (voiced by Grey Griffin) – Leader of the Mod Frogs. Harris and Kwat (voiced by Ian Harding and Grey Griffin) – A pair of Mod Frogs and Jamack's former goons.
Timbercats Yumyan Hammerpaw (voiced by Steve Blum) – Axe Lord of the Timbercats. His name is a parody of the tall tale character Paul Bunyan. Molly Yarnchopper (voiced by Lea Delaria) – A Timbercat and Yumyan Hammerpaw's second-in-command. Ruffles (voiced by Matt Lowe) – A Timbercat.
Newton Wolves Good Billions (voiced by John Hodgman - Astronomer, co-leader of the Newton Wolves. Bad Billions (voiced by GZA/Guy Lockard) – Astronomer, co-leader of the Newton Wolves.
Umlaut Snakes Cotton (voiced by Grey Griffin) – Rocker leader of the Umlaut Snakes from Cactus Town. Camille (voiced by Joan Jett and Grey Griffin) – An Umlaut Snake.
Humming Bombers Easy (voiced by Matt Lowe) – Leader of the Humming Bombers. Boom-Boom (voiced by Alanna Ubach) – A Humming Bomber.
Scooter Skunks Loretta (voiced by Grey Griffin) - Co-leader of the Scooter Skunks. Wheels (voiced by Alanna Ubach) – Co-leader of the Scooter Skunks.
Fitness Racoons Label (voiced by Betsy Sodaro) – A Fitness Raccoon. Tongue Depressor (voiced by David Neher) – A Fitness Raccoon.
Other Mutes Amy and Brad (voiced by Avrielle Corti and Ace Gibson) – A pair of rats who manage an amusement park called Ratland. Ida, Florabel, and Bev (voiced by Kay Bess, Chris Anthony Lansdowne, and Mindy Sterling) – The "Chevre Sisters", a trio of blind, soothsaying goats. Margot (voiced by Faith Graham and Victoria Grace) – Wolf's adoptive wolf sister. Puck (voiced by John Lavelle) – A theater musician otter. Hyun-soo (voiced by Raymond J. Lee) – Lead singer of a narwhal K-pop band. Gerard (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) – An orangutan Noble. Lemieux (voiced by Grey Griffin) – A tarsier Noble. Tad Mulholland (voiced by Michael-Leon Wooley) – A sentient colony of tardigrades who traps others in dream worlds. Fun Gus (voiced by Jack Stanton) – A sentient mold with a child-like personality.
Humans Doag (voiced by Rebecca Husain) – Hoag's dance-obsessed daughter. Hoag (voiced by Jeff Bennett) – A member of Kipo's underground community and Doag's father. Troy Sandoval (voiced by Giullian Yao Gioiello) – A boy from Kipo's underground community and Benson's boyfriend. Roberto Sandoval (voiced by Antonio Alvarez) – Troy's father. Asher and Dahlia Berdacs (voiced by River Butcher and Fryda Wolff) – Twin siblings from Kipo's underground community. Asher is non-binary while Dahlia is female. Lily and Earl Berdacs (voiced by Kay Bess and Carlos Alazraqui) – Asher and Dahlia's parents. Mr. Filburn (voiced by Jake Green) – A member of Kipo's underground community. Zane and Greta (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui and Anna Vocino) – Dr. Emilia's assistants.
Production
Development Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts was created by Radford Sechrist, previously a storyboard artist for Dan Vs. and later director on the Voltron: Legendary Defender. After quitting his job as an animator, Sechrist began posting the webcomic Kipo on Tumblr in 2015. The animated series based on the webcomic was first announced at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June 2019. Sechrist compared the series to The Wizard of Oz, "but instead of ruby slippers [Kipo] has Converse on".
The series has five writers in addition to showrunner Sechrist and executive producer Bill Wolkoff. They worked in two teams, each comprising a director and three board artists. The animation is made by Studio Mir in South Korea using traditional animation methods. About sixty people worked on the series at DreamWorks, and about fifty-five at Studio Mir.
LGBTQ representation
As Netflix pushed forward, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts became a notable example of expanded representation. In the first season of Kipo, which streamed on January 10, Benson said outright he was gay, saying he only liked the series protagonist, Kipo, in a platonic way. He also developed a crush on a male character, Troy, in the show's 10th episode. Due to these elements, some noted the show's "casual queerness."
The series was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming.
In August 2021, Sechrist told Insider that he and Wolkoff realized that there weren't "iconic Superman or Spider-Man archetypes very often as a gay person in media" saying that gay people would be villains or comic relief, with their pitch for Benson as part of the show, making history, becoming the first Black gay protagonist and "second-known animated kids character" apart from a character in 6teen to "identify themselves as gay in dialogue."
Music The soundtrack to the series, including several original songs, was composed by Daniel Rojas. Rojas was tasked with writing original songs as well as creating a score that could "blend seamlessly" together. He collaborated with the screenwriters, producers, and music supervisors for the original songs. Though the score is primarily pop-oriented, Rojas would often tap into different genres and blend elements of them together. Genres included are hip-hop, trap, folk, electronic dance, rock, and classical. Soundtrack albums for each of the three seasons in the series were released digitally by Back Lot Music on January 13, 2020, May 29, 2020, and October 16, 2020.
Release