Here’s something strange. Strange Planet, the webcomic and book series that pokes fun at humanity by doing human things but with aliens, is getting a TV show from Dan Harmon, who created Community and co-created Rick and Morty. Harmon will be partnering with Nathan Pyle, the comic’s creator, for the show, which has a straight-to-series order from Apple TV+ and will be animated.
Harmon is no stranger to poking fun at the inanities of life, but Strange Planet might be hard to move into a television show. The comic is usually four panels long and features blue aliens discussing things that normal humans do all the time like watching TV, petting a cat, sneezing, or just sleeping but twists the situation by having the aliens use incredibly descriptive words to point out how ridiculous half the stuff we do is. It can honestly be funny and even touching at times, but it seems like something that works best in a brief format.
The comic started out on Instagram in 2019, where it rapidly gained a large following. Since then Pyle has published multiple books containing the comic and continued to publish on his Instagram account, which now has millions of followers. Apple is probably hoping it can pull in some of that audience to its streaming service as it continues to try to compete with the likes of Netflix and Disney+.
Harmon and Pyle will executive produce on the upcoming Strange Planet TV series with Amalia Levari (Joe Pera Talks with You) set as the showrunner. There is no episode count or premiere information yet.
