Want to know is a new animated series that premiered on Cartoon Network on April 5, 2025, and on Max the next day (later on Showmax in 44 African countries). Graphic novel series Roye Okupe wth art Godwin Adrent,,,,, Great: The guardian kid Depend on Youneek Studios and Dark Horse Comics. He is the creator, executive producer and performer of the series, which Lion Forge Entertainment produced. The show draws inspiration from Nigerian culture, music and mythology to build a kingdom called Yourubaland, and the brave young orphan girl Iyanu discovers that she possesses a divine power that has never been seen since the age of legendary miracles. She accompanied her new friend Biyi, Toye and a giant magic blue leopard named Ekun, where she must seek to stop the evil evil that has threatened everyone in the past.
Beat Have a chance to talk to it Brandon Easton (Story Editor/Writer), Vincent Edwards (Supervised Director) and Samuel Kugbiyi (Toye’s voice actor) About Want to know.
The interview has been edited as clear.
Julian Lytle: My first question is, what is this Want to know This makes you all want to join this project to fit it into an animation series?
Vincent Edwards: It’s a great story with great heroes, a great purpose and message. Everyone wants to make sure it’s something of top shelf quality and I go all out.
Brandon Easton: This project came when I was working elsewhere. I was in Blizzard Entertainment when the project came to me. The moment I opened the graphic novel was the moment I realized I wanted to work on it. It is full of vitality and is the beauty of the work of art. It is skilled rhythm, which is one of the problems many graphic novels encounter. The rhythm is not exactly the same as many things. It’s just a matter of finding a good job. It’s easy to adapt when something is so good. That is its beauty.
Samuel Kugbiyi: Well, as far as I’m concerned, I feel very lucky because it feels like a dream at the beginning and then it keeps giving. I’ve done a bunch of short animation dubbing before, but I thought, well, this is not a five-minute animation, it’s a full season. Then I found Yemi Will perform the theme song, she is a Grammy Award-nominated artist. I’ve known Yemi Alade for many years. Then I went to the meeting and then I saw Adesua Etomi and there were some great people there. I think, OK, that’s great. So I don’t think it’s – Oh yeah, it’s a great show and I’ll be on it. I was like, Oh my god, it was a great show and I wanted to keep doing it. So, I was lucky to be in the show. When I see the animation, I will say. I like animation. I probably don’t have the choice like the big guys, I’m talking about Brad and Vincent, do I want to do this show? I have no choice. I’m like a Nigerian, it’s an animation – go. So this is the story I started Want to know.
Lytle: OK, my second question is Brandon and Vincent. What are the challenges and surprises of adapting comic series to animated series?
Easton: The challenge is just trying to figure out what to keep and what to remove from the graphic novel itself and keep Royer and Godwin’s original vision. I don’t want to compromise. I don’t want to water it. We did this mainly because I was the lead writer and Roye was in the room with me and he wrote the plot. Therefore, he will introduce specific things in Nigerian culture and Yoruba culture unique to Nigeria. He would put things there, which would make it more realistic. I think the beauty of it all is that everything blends together because everyone is on the same page. This is very rare, many times in “Hollywood Production” because you have many different motivations, many different financial motivations, many different politics. But overall, at least in my opinion, everyone puts all of this aside to make things really good. So the other side of the challenge is that there is a wonderful collaborative environment from the writer’s room to the storyboard team, the director, the voice team and everyone. Everyone is on the same page. And if you work in his town or even in graphic novels, that’s not always the case. So, this is one of the beautiful things that come up in the situation.
Edwards: Yes. Again, you know that in making, making and making shows, fighting styles to expand what we do in stories isn’t always the subtlety of the script page, right? There is tension between Biyi and Iyanu’s relationship because they are just friends, but they are also adults and there are a lot of hormones happening. So when they have these types, they are always embarrassed, my god, I’m hugging you moments, right? And, you know the nuances of how our characters relate to each other. These are the taxi products that scripts and dialogue rhythms suggest, but they are choices for voice performance and what we call pencil play, and when the story work is implemented, you figure out what composition needs to be, who are we looking at? Or something? What are their expressions when this happens? This is backed by things like sound design and scores, telling us that all of this isn’t on the script page, but they’re part of the story, right? So it is the process of expelling it and bringing it into clearer intentions. This is always an interesting part of the work. I won’t call it a challenge. That’s what I like to do.
Lytle: What is it like to create a world with West Africa that affects children and general audiences, rather than having an impact or connection with anything within the Western world?
Edwards: Well, I’m just the leader, Brandon, if you don’t mind, your artistic rules are that you build a universe of stories and stories, a cast of characters, and you build a story you want to tell and the rules have to be set. This could be a completely fantastic world that has nothing to do with reality. However, the rules you set will never violate them because if you violate your own rules, the audience will not be attracted to your fantasy. So, more striking, you know, I don’t want to say being bound, but you do have to make sure I believe there are some elves, unicorns and giant magic panthers, like you can’t just get them to start talking, or, you know what I mean? So, I think what makes any fantasy more compelling is when it comes to feeling yourself.
Easton: Also, I feel that when you look at West Africa, many West African cultures, diet, spiritual beliefs and music are transported to other parts of the Western world due to certain historical tragedies. So, a lot of these stories, many of our music, are definitely music and food. So, it is really not a challenge for West Africa, as anything in Nigeria is translated specifically into a story, especially for young audiences.
I feel that many of our stories have been influenced by West Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, etc. It really proves that having a very powerful room for writers and being a very good director who understands the language and shorthand of visual storytelling.
Whether from Akira Blacksawwhether from Mamoru Oshii That’s The ghost in the shellwhatever you are saying Jean-Luc GodardYou know, people from all over the world are different Spike Leewhoever you take a visual emotional shorthand and put it into the story – it doesn’t matter what your story, what your background is in, what your background is, what your background is, what your background is, what your background is, what your background is, it doesn’t matter. Star Wars It really doesn’t happen anywhere that can be identified, but there is an emotion, right? You can talk about it Lord of the Ringsyou can talk about Titanic. You know I won’t get on the boat. I’m not a big fan of boats or cruise ships, but I totally understand the horror of hitting the iceberg, because James Cameron Be able to tell the story and make it obvious in modern audiences. You watch a movie alienalso of Cameron. I’ve never hit huge space bugs, but by God, you fully understand this because of the emotional, environmental and visual shorthand works of storytelling. So Roye and Godwin are perfect for the Nigerian creation of Yoruba culture, and we can still put it in the elements in it and put them in stories that anyone can figure out. But, who am I? That’s a core issue Want to know, Who doesn’t have that feeling? Who didn’t ask this question, do you know?
Edwards: Sorry, you lost me at Giant Alien Space Bugs. (All laughs)
Easton: Known as Xenomorphs. (All laughs)
Wright: OK, guys, that’s my time. Thank you for answering my question. Have a nice day.
Iyanu premiered on Cartoon Network on April 5, 2025. The next day’s episode was upstream on Max.
