Elijah Wood starring in the upcoming Among Us animated TV show is the kind of news I didn't know I needed. When I woke up to several messages from friends sharing the announcement, I first assumed it had to be some sort of Hard Drive gag, but then realisation set in, and my first question was: why? Followed closely by: what if Frodo was the imposter?
The upcoming TV show is based on the game of the same name that had the internet in a chokehold in 2020 as every Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and even some political figures played the party game during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The show will follow a similar formula to the game, with the series seeing crew members replaced by an alien shapeshifter, otherwise known as the imposter. This killer crewmate causes chaos and tries to eradicate other innocent crewmembers, while the remaining players will have to sniff out the imposter and eject them into the dark void if they want to survive. It's basically space Werewolf.
Elijah Wood will star as Green, an unpaid intern who is described as "happy to be there" and just does whatever they're told according to the character descriptions. Other actors lending their voices to this series include Randall Park (best known for Fresh off the Boat and The Interview), who will play Red, the captain of the Skeld, and a blowhard people-pleaser who apparently "failed upward". There's also Ashley Johnson (who played roles in The Last of Us and Blindspot), the safety-oriented chief of security, and Yvette Nicole Brown (best known for Community and The Odd Couple), the HR for the crew, and probably the best option for the role of imposter—what are the other characters going to do when she starts killing them? Report them to HR?
After Elijah Wood's role was announced, he took to Twitter to express his excitement for the upcoming role: "Woohoo! I'm so stoked to be a part of this." However, most people who saw this tweet had a similar reaction to me, with a few asking whether this is satire and others simply calling it what it is: Sus.
Titmouse will handle the animation duties for the upcoming series—the studio is known for its work on Big Mouth and Star Trek: Lower Decks. Owen Dennis will serve as creator and executive producer. Development began back in June 2023, according to Variety, but we don't have a release date yet.
It's hard to get too excited about the idea of an Among Us TV show. However, Elijah Wood's history of working in strange but brilliant productions like Over the Garden Wall gives me some hope that the series will be something great and not just a rehash of the YouTuber collaborations of 2020.
