Tuca and Bertie: First look and release date on Netflix

BoJack Horseman production designer and producer Lisa Hanawalt creates a new show for Netflix called Tuca & Bertie. It stars Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong.

With the continued success of Netflix’s adult-targeted animated series such as BoJack Horseman, F is for Family and Big Mouth, Netflix is looking to release its next adult cartoon Tuca & Bertie. The series is set to release on May 3, 2019, and the first season will consist of ten episodes.

As described by Deadline Hollywood, the show will be “a comedy about the friendship of two 30-year-old bird-women who live in the same apartment building: Tuca, a cocky, care-free toucan and Bertie, an anxious, daydreaming songbird.”

Tuca will be voiced by Tiffany Haddish, while Bertie will be voice by Ali Wong. Both women are well known for being comedians as well as actresses.

Check out the first look at Tuca & Bertie below!

The creator of Tuca & Bertie is Lisa Hanawalt, who is responsible for fellow Netflix series BoJack Horseman’s unique art style. Tuca & Bertie will share a similar art style but is not a spin-off of Bojack Horseman, according to BoJack creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg. He describes it on Twitter as being “a lot like BoJack! And also very much its own thing! Not a spinoff! But made by some of the same people!”

Besides her work on BoJack, Hanawalt has also had various of her illustrations and writings published in many high profile magazines and has created several comics and books starring her animal-human hybrids. More information on Hanawalt, including other projects she’s worked on and a long list of the awards she has won, can be found on her website here. 

According to Screen Rant, actors, Steven Yeun and Richard E. Grant are also confirmed to voice characters in the show. Yeun is a veteran voice actor for Netflix having voiced major characters in its other animated series Trollhunters and Voltron: Legendary Defender.

Despite these actors inclusion, Tuca & Bertie looks to keep its main focus on its female characters. For a long time animation, like many industries, has been a mostly male-dominated area with very few shows run by women. If Tuca & Bertie proves successful it could be a great step forward for more women run projects.