''Molly of Denali'' (stylized as ''MOLLY of DENALI'') is an animated

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

produced by Atomic Cartoons in association with

WGBH Kids WGBH-TV (channel 2), branded on-air as GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship property of the WGBH Educational Foundation, which also owns Boston's s ...

, created by

Dorothea Gillim Dorothea Gillim (born July 18, 1964) is an American television producer. She is the creator of the animated series ''WordGirl'' and ''Hey Monie!'' and co-creator of ''Molly of Denali''. Under GBH, Gillim has produced multiple animated series inc ...

and Kathy Waugh for

PBS Kids PBS Kids is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Some public television children's programs are not produced by PBS member stations or transmitted by PBS. Instead, ...

and

CBC Kids ''CBC Kids'' is a Television in Canada, Canadian children's television series, children's Block programming, block on CBC Television. The block was launched as Hodge Podge Lodge in 1987 and contains programming targeted at children. The block a ...

."PBS Kids orders animated series from Atomic Cartoons"
'' Playback'', May 9, 2018."Upfronts ’18: CBC debuts 17 new series"
'' Playback'', May 24, 2018. It premiered on July 15, 2019, and is the first American nationally distributed children's show to feature an Alaska Native as the lead character. Thirty-eight half-hours were produced for season 1, which has a 50-minute special as its season finale. A special live-action segment filmed in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

airs between the two 11-minute story segments. On April 6, 2021, it was announced that the show had been renewed for two more seasons, whose second season premiered on November 1, 2021 and ended on October 10, 2022 after 14 episodes. The third season premiered on November 7, 2022. The series won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in the Children's/Youth category in 2020.

Plot

The series follows ten-year-old Molly Mabray, an

Alaskan Native Alaska Natives (also known as Alaskan Natives, Native Alaskans, Indigenous Alaskans, Aboriginal Alaskans or First Alaskans) are the indigenous peoples of Alaska and include Iñupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and a numb ...

vlogger from the fictional village of Qyah, and her family, friends Tooey Ookami and Trini Mumford, her

Malamute The Alaskan Malamute () is a large breed of dog that was originally bred for its strength and endurance to haul heavy freight as a sled dog and hound. It is similar to other arctic breeds such as the husky, the spitz, the Greenland Dog, Can ...

Suki, and other residents. Her family runs the Denali Trading Post.

Cast

* Sovereign Bill as Molly Mabray, the star of the series. She is of Gwich'in,

Koyukon The Koyukon (russian: Коюконы) are an Alaska Native Athabascan people of the Athabascan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. Their traditional territory is along the Koyukuk and Yukon rivers where they subsisted for thousands of years by ...

, and Dena'ina

Athabascan Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...

descent. She has a blog to share with viewers in the lower 48 states about life in Alaska. Her native name is Shahnyaa, which means "one who informs us." She also has a sled dog named Suki. * Sequoia Janvier (Season 1) and Zane Jasper (Season 2-present) as Tooey Ookami, Molly's best friend * Vienna Leacock as Trini Mumford * Jules Arita Koostachin as Layla Mabray, Molly's mother * Ronnie Dean Harris as Walter Mabray, Molly's father *

Lorne Cardinal Lorne Cardinal (born 6 January 1964) is a Canadian stage, television and film actor, best known for portraying Davis Quinton on ''Corner Gas''. He is a former rugby union player. Early life Cardinal was born on a reserve of the Sucker Creek ...

as Grandpa Nat * Adeline Potts as Auntie Midge * Ellen Kennedy as Singing Moose, Video Voice, and Connie * Luc Roderique as Daniel, Announcer, and Cowboy on TV *

Michelle Thrush Michelle Thrush (born February 6, 1967) is a Canadian actress and First Nations activist for Aboriginal Canadians and the other Indigenous peoples of the Americas. She is best known for her leading role as Gail Stoney in '' Blackstone'', for which ...

as Shyahtsoo, Aunt Merna, and Grace * Shawn Youngchief as Mr. Patak, Maurice, Finnegan King, and Olin Benedict * Katrina Salisbury as Nina * Rhonda Rees as Barb * Pamela Jones as Sadie Albert * Nyla Carpentier as Atsaq, Tooey's mother * Taran Kootenhayoo as Randall * Pawaken Koostachin-Chakasim as Oscar * Cynthia De Pando as Lucia * Damon Sky Taylor as Ben * Hyuma Frankowski as Kenji * Tai Grauman as Mrs. Marsh, the teacher * Anna Dickey as Vera * Brendan Sunderland as Jake * Clay St. Thomas as Travis and Mr. Rowley *

Rebecca Shoichet Rebecca Shoichet ( ; born February 16, 1975) is a Canadian voice actress and singer who has voiced in English dubs of Japanese anime and other shows for Ocean Productions in Vancouver. She took over Saffron Henderson's role of Sota Higurashi i ...

as Dr. Antigone *

Rukiya Bernard Rukiya Bernard (born January 20, 1983) is a Canadian actress, producer and interior designer. She is known for her role as Doc in Syfy's '' Van Helsing'','' The Cabin in the Woods'' (2012), ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (2008) and ''Stuck'' ...

as Violetta Lawrence * Barbara Patrick as Tatiana * Macie Juiles as Nadia * Maxine Miller as Betsy Higginbottom * Veena Sood as Dr. Amara Batra * Bethany Brown as Joy Mumford * Reneltta Arluk as Dr. Begaye, Willow's Mom, and Mary *

Cathy Weseluck Cathy Weseluck is a Canadian actress and comedian who frequently works with Ocean Productions in Vancouver, British Columbia and is known for her roles as Near in '' Death Note'', Cybersix/Adrian Seidelman in ''Cybersix'', and Spike in '' My Littl ...

as Charlotte (Sassy Ladies of Saskatoon) * Laara Sadiq as Abigail (Sassy Ladies of Saskatoon) * Mary Black as Olivia (Sassy Ladies of Saskatoon) * Nanieezh Black as Marjie Voice direction by

Nicole Oliver Nicole Lyn Oliver (born February 22, 1970) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Princess Celestia and Cheerilee in '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' and Zoe Trent in '' Littlest Pet Shop''. Early life Oliver was born ...

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2019–21)

Season 2 (2021-2022)

Season 3 (2022-present)

Production

The show's theme song is sung by Phillip Blanchett and Karina Moeller from the band

Pamyua Pamyua ( ) (literally: "its tail" in Yup'ik from ''pamyuq'' "tail of animal or kayak; chorus of song; upper stern-piece of kayak") is a Yup'ik musical group from Anchorage in Alaska. Overview Brothers Stephen and Phillip Blanchett, of Inuit and ...

, with a fiddle and drum played by Brennan Firth. Portions of the show's dialogue are in the

Gwichʼin language The Gwichʼin language () belongs to the Athabaskan language family and is spoken by the Gwich'in First Nation (Canada) / Alaska Native People (United States). It is also known in older or dialect-specific publications as Kutchin, Takudh, Tuku ...

Broadcast

''Molly of Denali'' premiered on Nat Geo Kids in Latin America in September 2019. It premiered on CBC Kids in Canada on September 2, 2019.

CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...

acquired the UK TV rights to the series in 2022. A podcast was released shortly after its premiere date, this time as a prequel to the series, with season 2 of the podcast premiering in September 2020. Season 3 of the podcast premiered on March 3, 2021.

Reception

Julia Jacobs of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote "PBS Raises Its Bar for Inclusion."

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* {{WGBH 2010s American animated television series 2020s American animated television series 2010s Canadian animated television series 2020s Canadian animated television series 2019 American television series debuts 2019 Canadian television series debuts American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated education television series American television series with live action and animation Animated television series about children Canadian children's animated adventure television series Canadian children's animated comedy television series Canadian children's animated education television series Canadian television series with live action and animation CBC Television original programming English-language television shows PBS Kids shows PBS original programming Television series by WGBH Peabody Award-winning television programs Television shows set in Alaska Fictional characters from Alaska Native American television series First Nations television series