''Primal'' (also known as ''Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal'') is an American adult animated action horror television series created and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky for

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, ...

's late night programming block

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

. ''Primal'' is set in a deliberately anachronistic vision of

prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The us ...

, portraying

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s, prehistoric

hominid The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the ...

s, and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

''Homo sapiens'' as coexisting within the same barbaric time period and incorporating many elements of

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

, horror, action, and

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

. The first 10-episode season of ''Primal'' was split into two 5-episode parts. The series premiered on Adult Swim on October 8, 2019, with the remaining episodes releasing daily that same week. The second half of the season premiered one episode April 1, 2020, with the remaining episodes premiering weekly for the five weeks following October 4, 2020. In August 2020, the series was renewed for a 10-episode second season, which premiered July 22 and concluded September 16, 2022. Following the second season finale and conclusion of Spear and Fang's storyline, Tartakovsky confirmed that ''Primal'' would become an

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...

from its forthcoming third season onward. ''Primal'' has received widespread critical acclaim, with much praise for its animation, storytelling, music, emotional depth, horror elements and editing. The show has won three Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation Juried Awards from the

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Storyboard Artist (Genndy Tartakovsky), Art Director (Scott Wills), and Character Designer (

Stephen DeStefano Stephen DeStefano (born 1966) is an American comics artist, animator and storyboard artist best known as the co-creator of 'Mazing Man and Hero Hotline with writer Bob Rozakis. Early life DeStefano was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York and attend ...

Premise

Set in an anachronistic and fantastical

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The us ...

world, the premise is a bond between a

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...

named Spear and a female '' Tyrannosaurus rex'' named Fang as they struggle to survive, encountering various dangerous fauna and people that live in their world while also encountering different creatures and

homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture ...

''.

Characters

In comparison to Tartakovsky's other shows where there are multiple characters, ''Primal'' initially only features Spear and Fang in the show as they encounter different prehistoric or fantastical species and various tribes of

hominin The Hominini form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae ("hominines"). Hominini includes the extant genera ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos) and in standard usage excludes the genus ''Gorilla'' (gorillas). The ...

s. Tartakovsky stated that although the show is a work of fantasy, the prehistoric animals, modern creatures and futuristic beasts in the show are based on real prehistoric animals, as well as some new ones created by the artists involved in the project.

Main

* Spear (voiced by Aaron LaPlante; Noah Bentley (young)) – A

whose mate and two children are attacked and devoured by a pack of horned Tyrannosaurs. Although he overcomes his initial urge to commit suicide, Spear is still learning to cope with the loss. Eventually, he develops a deep bond with Fang and is willing to make any personal sacrifice to protect her. (seasons 1–2) * Fang – A teal female ''

Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...

'' whose hatchlings are killed by the same horned Tyrannosaur pack that killed Spear's family. Unlike Spear, who is still traumatized and dealing with the loss of his loved ones, Fang is able to cope with hers much quicker. Initially, she attempts to assert her dominance over Spear but eventually learns that it is far healthier to work in a partnership than with a pack mentality and is willing to do anything to ensure his survival. * Mira (voiced by

Laëtitia Eïdo Laëtitia Eïdo (born October 25, 1985) is a French actress, born to a French father and a Lebanese mother. She is best known as Dr. Shirin El Abed, one of the leading roles in the Israeli Netflix series ''Fauda'', and as the voice of Mira in th ...

) – A virtuous

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

-speaking

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...

. Enslaved and branded with a

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always en ...

symbol by a

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

clan, Mira escapes and encounters Spear and Fang, who become her new friends and companions. She proves to be very capable with

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In ...

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...

s, axes,

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters t ...

, helmsmanship, and

cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric stoves, to baking in vario ...

. (season 2; guest: season 1) *

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

(voiced by

Jacob Dudman Jacob Stanley Dudman (born 22 August 1997) is an English actor, writer and filmmaker. He is known for his roles in Netflix programs '' The Stranger'' (2020), ''Medici'' (2019), '' Fate: The Winx Saga'' (2021-2022) and the BBC iPlayer series '' T ...

) – A

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosop ...

and member of the Historical Society who theorizes about the correlation between the primitive and modern man. (" The Primal Theory") *

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underw ...

(voiced by Jeremy Crutchley) – An

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

scientist and former

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

champion whose manor hosts a Historical Society of well-educated scientists. ("The Primal Theory")

Recurring

Season 1

* Spear's family – Spear's mate, son, and daughter that were eaten by a pack of horned Tyrannosaurs in the first episode, but reappear through visions and flashbacks across the series. * Fang's first brood – Fang's first two hatchlings. Like Spear's family, they were eaten in the first episode, but reappear through visions and flashbacks across the series.

Season 2

* The Chieftain (voiced by

Fred Tatasciore Fred Tatasciore (; ) is an American voice actor who has provided voices in animated and live-action films, television shows, and video games. He is known for voicing the Hulk and Beast in various Marvel media and Solomon Grundy in various DC ...

) – The chieftain of the Viking tribe responsible for abducting Mira's people. He soon seeks revenge on Spear and Fang for decimating his tribe. Following his son Eldar's death, the Chieftain is transformed into a monstrous, fiery giant by the demonic entity in order to kill Spear and Fang in exchange for Eldar's soul. * Eldar (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) – The Chieftain's eldest son. He joins his father on their quest for revenge against Spear and Fang for their tribe's destruction. * Demonic Entity – The lord of the fiery underworld who makes a deal with the Chieftain to have him kill Spear and Fang and bring him their souls in exchange for Eldar's soul. * Ima (voiced by Amina Koroma) – A tyrannical and ruthless Egyptian queen who resides in a large city-ship called the ''Colossaeus'' filled with her warriors and slaves that she uses to raid and loot other kingdoms. * Kamau (voiced by Imari Williams) – A giant African man who, while naturally peaceful, is also immensely strong and was enslaved by Ima along with his similarly-sized tribe. It is revealed that Ima is holding his daughter Amal hostage, which serves as leverage to force him to obey her. * Amal (voiced by Hillary Hawkins) – Kamau's daughter. * Fang's second brood – Fang's second set of hatchlings that were born after she mated with a ''Tyrannosaurus'' named Red. While one was killed before hatching, the other two live to adulthood.

Production

Conception and development

According to Tartakovsky, ''Primal'' was an early piece of work he scrapped because it did not click with him at the time. As he learned more and more about what drew people in to his shows, he wanted to experiment with those artistic traits, particularly the use of no dialogue and slow moments. He also stated that the method in which he approached animated projects began to slow down in terms of energy, and by the time he finished working on '' Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation '', it had come full circle. He said he was inspired by

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and ''Conan the Destroyer''), ...

and vintage pulp novels, as well as films such as '' The Revenant''. Tartakovsky felt that people would not take the show seriously because they were "breaking the rules" by having "a man and a dinosaur together," so he emphasized that it is a character study, a "buddies" journey about two characters who are very different but bonded by tragedy. The first season consists of 10 episodes. On August 31, 2020, the series was renewed for a second season which consists of 10 episodes.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2019–20)

Season 2 (2022)

Broadcast

The first season premiered on October 8, 2019, with episodes from the first half of the season airing daily from the premiere date. An episode from the second half was shown during Adult Swim's April Fools' Day 2020 run. Adult Swim announced on their

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that the second half would start airing on October 4, 2020. The first season of ''Primal'' was broadcast during Thanksgiving weekend on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block for the first time on November 29, 2020. The marathon commemorated the launch of the series on the

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

streaming service. The first season began a second run on the normal schedule of the Toonami block beginning on May 15, 2022. The second season encored on the block on July 24, 2022.

Home media

The first season was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 1, 2021 by

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...

. It was later released in France, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Reception

Critical response

Initial reception for ''Primal'' was highly positive; much praise was given to the art and animation, the use of storytelling with no dialogue, and the balancing of the show's interpretation of violence and beauty. In a review from

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

, Steve Greene wrote "''Primal'' is a piece of elemental storytelling that finds some real emotional depth without either of its protagonists uttering a single word of dialogue", ultimately giving the series an "A−". On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the first season has an approval rating of 100% based on reviews from 23 critics, with an average rating of 9.10/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Epic in every sense, ''Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal'' is a stunning feat of

visual storytelling A visual narrative (also visual storytelling) is a story told primarily through the use of visual media. The story may be told using still photography, illustration, or video, and can be enhanced with graphics, music, voice and other audio. Overv ...

." The second season has an approval rating of 100% based on reviews from 7 critics, with an average rating of 9.30/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the series has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100 based on 5 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Awards and nominations

A film retelling of the first four episodes, ''Primal: Tales of Savagery'', screened at the London West Hollywood at Beverly Hills on November 21, 2019. This version was submitted in the

Best Animated Feature This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

category for the 92nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

Future

After the second season finale " Echoes of Eternity" aired on September 16, 2022, Genndy Tartakovsky confirmed that while Spear and Fang's story was officially concluded, he was formulating a third season for the series with a focus on new characters, intending for ''Primal'' to become an

, inspired by the stand-alone second season episode " The Primal Theory". While no official release date has been announced, Tartakovsky said that he intends to develop the season after completing his work on

New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...

's ''Fixed''.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Toonami Adult Swim 2010s American adult animated television series 2020s American adult animated television series 2019 American television series debuts Adult Swim original programming American action adventure television series American adult animated action television series American adult animated adventure television series American adult animated drama television series American adult animated fantasy television series American adult animated horror television series Animated television series about dinosaurs Animated thriller television series Anime-influenced Western animated television series Annie Award winners Emmy Award-winning programs English-language television shows Films with screenplays by Genndy Tartakovsky Human trafficking in fiction Slavery in fiction Television series by Cartoon Network Studios Television series by Williams Street Television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky Television series set in prehistory