Showmax has just released the first trailer for Twende, the first Showmax Original 2D animated series.
Twende – The Storyline – Plot
Twende follows a pangolin of the same name, the slowest moving animal in the savannah.
“Twende’s belief that, ‘life is about the journey, not the destination’ is constantly at odds with his job as a boda boda driver in the bustling, fictional East African city of Milima,” says South African showrunner Greig Cameron.
Greig Cameron wrote and directed Seal Team, which cracked the Netflix Global Top 10 film list in January last year, as well as the hit soccer animated series, Supa Strikas.
Twende’s pilot screened in competition at Annecy, the world’s premier animation festival, in 2021.
MultiChoice Studios is handling international sales and will present Twende at MIPCom, the world’s greatest gathering of TV and entertainment executives, from 16-19 October 2023.
Twende – The Cast
Twende is voiced by Junior Nyong’o (The Legend of Lwanda Magere, Hamlet), while June Gachui (Crime and Justice, Nairobi Half Life) plays his unlikely best friend and navigator, Nuru – a whip-smart bird who always looks out for her bestie, even if his chilled-out vibe drives her crazy sometimes.
Kalasha Awards nominee Elsaphan Njora (Super Sema, Kati Kati) voices Boss, the perennially broke and exhausted hyena who owns the boda boda agency where Nuru and Twende work. He’s a single dad with more mouths to feed than he can count.
The all-Kenyan voice cast also includes Charles Ouda (Crime and Justice) as showy stunt driver Kimbe and Mkamzee Mwatela (Mali) as Boss’s rival, Madam Mongoose, CEO of the evil tech empire Goober.
Also listen out for Kalasha Awards winner Nyokabi Macharia (Super Sema), Joyce Musoke (Second Family) and seasoned voice actor and director Khaemba W. Edward (Ogas at the Top, The XYZ Show).
Although poaching is not dealt with directly in the series, pangolins are the most trafficked animals in the world and are now on the endangered species list.
It’s such a shame that this is happening to this amazing and unique animal,
Twende is a super silly show, but we hope that, between all the humor and all the hijinks,
our audience will fall in love with pangolins as much as we have and do their part to help protect them.”
says Kenyan executive producer Kwame Nyong’o
The first 2D animated show of this scale and quality made almost entirely in Africa,
Twende premieres on Showmax on 4 December 2023, with new episodes on Saturdays. Slow down and enjoy the ride.