Hulu’s ‘Koala Man’ Season 1 Non-Spoiler Review – A Poetic Post-Modern Painting Of Pacific Life

The Crew Behind Koala Man Season 1

Koala Man is created by Michael Cusack and developed by Cusack & Dan Hernandez (Detective Pikachu) & Benji Samit (Detective Pikachu).

Cusack, Hernandez, Samit, Justin Roiland (Rick and Morty), Scott Greenberg, Ben Jones, Joel Kuwahara, Dana Tafoya-Cameron, Mike Cowap (Smiling Friends), and Emma Fitzsimons (Smiling Friends) serve as the executive producers of the series. Dario Russo & David Ashby, Lucas Gardner, Laura Dimaio (Bob the Builder), Jason Stiff (Bento Box – Atlanta), and Justin Wight serve as the producers. Michael Dockery (YOLO: Crystal Fantasy, Smiling Friends), Shelley Dresden, and Jessica Hopcraft (Smiling Friends) are associate producers.

Brendan Caulfield (Smiling Friends) scores the music of the show. Alison Telford & Kate Leonard are the casting directors.

Georgie Aldaco and Nina Oyama serve as story editors for the series, while Anca Vlasan serves as the staff writer. Scott Henry serves as the editor/ animatic editor of the series. Aaron Powell (Peppa Pig, Smiling Friends) is the animation director.

Storyboards

Tom Hunter is the storyboard supervisor for Koala Man Episodes 1, 4, 5, and the finale. He also supervises storyboards with Steve Cooper for Episodes 2, 3, 6, and 7.

Maurice Argiro & Ivan Evans serve as the storyboard artists for the Koala Man pilot.

Manuk Chang, Mark Sonntag, and Ian Young storyboard the second and sixth episodes. Charles Kenway, Tony Lovett, Hayden Morris storyboard both the third and penultimate episodes. Dale Anderson, Martin Cormier (Smiling Friends), and Michael Harris storyboard both the fourth and finale episodes. Argiro, Thomas Eccles, and Evans storyboard the fifth episode.

Michael Harris & Alice Houston are the storyboard revisionists for the pilot.

Houston is the storyboard revisionist for Episodes the second and fourth episodes. Houston and Jessica “Toby” Tobin are the revisionists for the third episode. Eccles and Houston are the revisionists for the fifth and the finale episodes. Eccles, Houston, and Tobin are the revisionists for the sixth and seventh episodes.

Character, Prop, and Background Animators

Scott Baxter serves as the character lead for Koala Man.

Adele Ayres, Lachlan Bourne, Sarah Brennan (Smiling Friends), and Terry Trinh are the character designers for the pilot.

Ayres, Bourne, and Trinh are the character designers for the second, fifth, and sixth episodes. Ayres, Bourne, Sylvie Le Couteur, and Trinh are the designers for the third episode. Bourne, Le Couteur, and Trinh are the designers for the fourth episode. Bourne and Trinh are the designers for both the penultimate episode and the finale.

Le Couteur serves as the prop designer for both the pilot and the finale.

Bourne and Le Couteur are the prop designers for the second episode. Bourne, Le Couteur, and Sas Milledge are the designers for the third through fifth episodes. Le Couteur and Milledge are the designers for the sixth episode. Maurice Argiro and Le Couteur is the designer for the penultimate episode.

Rafferty Amor serves as the background lead.

The background designers of the season are as follows: Adele Ayres, Sally Barclay, Anita Chatterton (Episodes 1-7), Joseph Fernandez, Kim Gee, (Episodes 1-7), Paula Hatton (Smiling Friends) (1-7), Sam Knight (4, 6), Sylvie Le Couteur (6), Gabby Lee (2), Joanne Lee-Jung, Sylvia Lian (1-6), Joshua Loke, Isabelle Murdoch (pilot, 4-8), Huyen Nguyen, Mich Oliver (4, 6), Anna Pan, Dylan Rattenbury (Smiling Friends), Tiffa Tran (Final Space) (1-6), Frankie Wessing (1-3, 5, 6), Pearl Yang (5, 7, finale), Will Zhang (1-6), and Rick Sweden (Smiling Friends) (4, finale).

With the exception of the second episode, in which they are not credited, here are Bento Box – Atlanta’s background designers—Sara Champion (pilot, 3-5), Alex Falcone, Gabby Lee, Betty Liao (6), Jennifer Ober, Cierra Ramsey (6-8), Tiffany Rishel, Nina Robinson (6), and Ed Rowan (6).

The Cast of Koala Man Season 1

Michael Cusack voices the series’ titular protagonist, Kevin Williams/ Koala Man.

Sarah Snook (Predestination, An American Pickle, Succession) voices Vicky Williams, Kevin’s wife. Demi Lardner voices Alison Williams, Kevin and Vicky’s 14-year-old daughter and Liam’s twin sister.

Cusack also voices Liam Williams, Kevin and Vicky’s 14-year-old son and Alison’s twin brother. He also voices low-level Dapto criminals, Damo and Darren, as well as other characters.

Guest Voices

Hugh Jackman (Flushed Away, Happy Feet, Real Steel, Rise of the Guardians, Movie 43, Logan, Missing Link, The Son) is the series’ special guest star, voicing Big Greg, Kevin’s boss at the Dapto City Council.

Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords, Men in Black 3, Rick and Morty, Moana, Legion, What We Do in the Shadows, Nude Tuesday) guest stars as the voice of Principal Bazwell of North Dapto High School. Rachel House (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Moana, Thor: Ragnarok, What If…?) voices Janine, a canteen lady at North Dapto High, as well as Louise, a barista.

Justin Roiland voices Chad Wagon, an American resident who has started a restaurant in Australia. Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Homeland, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) voices the spirit of Mindy, a baby koala whom Kevin and Vicky rescued. Hugo Weaving (The Matrix series, The Lord of the Rings film franchise, V for Vendetta, Happy Feet, the Transformers film franchise, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, Happy Feet Two, Mortal Engines) has guest voice roles throughout the series, including a character named King Emudeus.

Alexandra Daddario (Percy Jackson & and the Olympians film series, True Detective, Burying the Ex, The White Lotus) and Angus Sampson (Insidious film series, Mad Max: Fury Road, Fargo, Mortal Kombat, Our Flag Means Death) also guest star.

Other Voice Actors

Jarrad Wright (YOLO: Crystal Fantasy) voices Spider, Koala Man’s civilian partner-in-crime. Nisrine Amine appears in the series as the voice of an Egyptian mummy.

Michelle Brasier (YOLO), Mark Coles Smith, Liam McIntyre (CW’s The Flash, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War), Claudia O’Doherty (Our Flag Means Death), Jordan Shanks, Natalie Tran, Miah Madden, Anthony Salame, Aurelia St. Clair, Steph Tisdell, Nazeem Hussain, Leigh Joel Scott, Aaron Chen, Nina Oyama, Ian Zaro (Nude Tuesday), David Ashby, and Dario Russo also have starring voice roles in the series.

Performances and Character Developments

Cusack’s Kevin Williams/ Koala Man is a swell character, and yet, he is nothing and no one without his family. At the beginning of the series, the hero is regarded as one whom his city does not like or trust, and Williams’ wife goes so far as to tell him he is not a legitimate superhero. The character has a sort of rough domestic upbringing that he has pushed into the deep recesses of his consciousness, and he has to constantly prove to his city that he is deserving of his presence. We could go so far as to liken to him to Don Quixote, but what good would that do?

His purpose is a lot like many superheroes, notably the two I mentioned earlier. He does have a loved one who dies, but it is not what you would think. The voice actor fits into the role quite well and is radically different from his Adult Swim characters in a lot of ways.

Snook’s Vicky Williams is the voice of reason for the family, especially when one member believes they are a superhero. Oftentimes, the character learns to be her own person apart from her family, and it gets to a point where she takes control of her life. There is a spicy scene with her husband in one of the later episodes that are hilarious but also builds into her development as a character. Let’s just say I will not look at Nintendo the same way again.

The Children

Lardner’s Alison Williams follows in her mother’s footsteps in more ways than one. She does have some political pursuits where she finds herself fighting and climbing up the social hierarchy, and it is insane and dramatic how that works out in her favor. The character is wonderful and truly a force to be reckoned with.

Cusack’s Liam Williams is just as powerful as his twin sister. However, the writers give the character a more comic-book feel. I could argue that he is something akin to Bran Stark from Game of Thrones with the way he has an influence on others. I am curious how the writers will allow the two twins to grow in the future when, hopefully, Hulu renews the series for more seasons.

Secondary Characters

Jackman has me speechless as Big Greg. In one early episode of the season, he has a belt buckle in the shape of his initials that just catches me off-guard. The character is lovely, often showing that he is better than his employee, Kevin Williams. Honestly, Jackman is an outstanding voice actor. And if I were to be completely honest, I mainly remember his previous voice work as Roddy St. James in 2006’s Flushed Away. I vaguely remember Happy Feet and Rise of the Guardians from my time as an adolescent, and I have still yet to see Missing Link. Still, Jackman does have a meaningful role in the series.

House’s two voice roles as Janine and Louise are interesting. On one hand, Janine as me just as speechless as Big Greg. She is a single woman who can be disturbing sometimes, while other times, she means well. On the other hand, Louise is a character that we do not know much about other than the fact that she has no problem whatsoever in assisting Koala Man.

Wright’s Spider is just as hilarious, and sometimes, I cannot quite tell if he is a stoner type. Some of the things that he says and does are outlandish, such as a line he says at a garbage site in the pilot, or what he shows in his glove compartment to our hero character in another episode.

Clement’s Principal Bazwell is a character to keep an eye out for. His part of the story makes sense, but there does come a point where he “takes the piss”. He is a lot like a certain Batman character who has been something of an old friend to Bruce Wayne. Bazwell does seem to show that he cares for the students, notably Liam Williams.

Final Thoughts on Koala Man Season 1

Koala Man is quite a binge for an adult animated series. However, it is worth watching, especially if this is your first time watching it. It is full of ethos as every main and supporting character has something to bring to the table. What I have to laud the entire team for is their depiction, homage, and celebration of post-modern Australian life. I was excited to see this series since the first artwork dropped, and to finally see it in all its brilliance was an honor. It was great that Cusack brought a lot of his Smiling Friends team to this project, and I cannot wait to see what they do next. There is definitely more to be said about this show, but I will leave that for the viewers to see it for themselves!

Michael Cusack’s Koala Man Season 1 streams via Hulu with all eight episodes starting January 9th!

And stay tuned for my three-part interviews with series creator Michael Cusack, teleplay writers/ executive producers Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit, and lead voice actor Demi Lardner, coming soon!

Have you seen any of Cusack’s previous or current works? If so, then what are your thoughts on them thus far? Let us know! For more action, adventure, comedy, and superhero-related news and reviews visit and follow The Cinema Spot on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!