With the November 12 debut of Season 3 along with its recent acquisition by Angel Studios, the animated series from Shining Isle Productions, which crowdfunded more than $8.2 million, keeps captivating audiences with epic storytelling as it moves full steam ahead producing Season 4 for release in 2026.
With its successful Season 3 November 12 launch on the Angel platform, quickly followed by the news of the show’s acquisition by Angel Studios, animated series is having quite a run.Based on the fantasy novels by Andrew Peterson set in the rich fantasy world of Aerwiar, series focuses on themes of family, perseverance, and courage.
As of last summer, the property had raised more than $8.2 million from more than 10,000 investors, reportedly making it the largest crowdfunded animated family series ever.All 3 seasons stream exclusively on the Angel platform, which provides on values-driven storytelling programming to its more than 1.6 million grassroots paying Angel Guild members.All 3 seasons stream exclusively in the U.S.
on the Angel platform; Seasons 1 and 2 are also available to purchase digitally.Enjoy the Season 3 trailer: Executive producer and showrunner J.Chris Wall shared with AWN the significance of the acquisition, noting, “The Angel acquisition of the animated series from Shining Isle Productions, ensures its long-term success.
We’re grateful for their ongoing support as we bring the story to its epic conclusion.The studio remains in Nashville with the same management team and talented staff, who are fully underway with Season 4 to release Fall of 2026.” In , the epic adventures of the Igiby family continue.And then some.
The season is based on the book “North! Or Be Eaten” where the Wingfeather family flees toward the Northern Ice Prairies to escape the Fangs of Dang.“The pursuit of this family by their enemies will find them in an underground ice city where tensions are mounting and betrayal lurks in the shadows,” Wall says.“Beloved characters will make life-changing decisions whose consequences will propel us into the upcoming seasons.
From a production standpoint, it is the most ambitious scale we’ve gone after, and I could not be more proud of our team.” With such a hugely successful crowdfunding effort amply demonstrating fan support for the series, the question arises as to how the show might expand its distribution to platforms outside Angel.According to Wall, “We’ve seen the fanbase be completely committed from the novels to crowdfunding and viewers on the streaming platform with Angel.We have seen some licensing of the series to other platforms internationally and will continue to explore options with additional platforms.
But Angel is the home for and the biggest supporter of the series and its growth!” The show’s stylized animation design draws from stop-motion and hand-painted 2D.Noting the production’s mix of both 2D and 3D, Wall explains, “That was a strategic decision by our team when we first got started in 2016.Not wanting to compete with the ‘Pixar’ look or the drive towards photoreal animation.
Keith Lango, our Head of Studio, was a big champion of non-photoreal imagery for how it invites the audience to engage their imagination as you keep a cohesive abstract style.That applies to hand-painted CG textures and animating on 2s to make that ‘storybook’ quality complete.Like classic 2D animation, we think the style will allow for a bit more timeless visual quality to the series, while allowing for nuanced character performances that CG animation allows.” The storytelling thus far has been crisp and compelling despite the challenges of adapting Andrew Peterson’s novels into a series.
“The author, Andrew Peterson, has some brilliant and whimsical prose in the novels that you just have to allow to stay behind in that format.Sure, we have been tempted to insert a narrator to use some of those passages but instead have focused on allowing the characters to pull us into the story without those devices.And of course, it is always a challenge keeping up with a heavily serialized story with a huge cast and give each character and storyline the right amount of screen time while not wearing the audience out with too much detail.” The animation production presented considerable challenges as well, especially Episode 4, the most visually complicated and difficult of the season.
“It took nearly double the number of man-hours as the other episodes!” Wall reveals.“It’s kind of our ‘Helm’s Deep’ in vernacular.Animating entirely in Unreal Engine required significant pipeline changes and training to get our animation team acclimated with new tools and controls.
And then, I would say Episode 3 just came together from story to visual execution in much more linear path.We knew what the characters needed to get through and it was really rewarding.” Looking across the entire new season, Wall highlights how expanding the world of the show has been “incredible.” “When I first read the books, Andrew has mention of this under-ice city and the people that have taken shelter there and how they are living together, hiding from the enemy.I was thrilled to get to expand our exploration of that land from the books and give the audience some fun surprises along the way.
And then to explore some different character perspectives.What does their mother Nia feel about all the hardships facing her children and can we feel that journey as well? Jodi Benson as Nia really brought forward her angst and heartache in a powerful way.”
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
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