‘Napoleon Dynamite’ Cast Reuniting for Animated Blockchain Pilot ‘Cyko KO’
The cast of the cult favorite comedy Napoleon Dynamite are set to reunite for the animated pilot Cyko KO, based on the Ringo Award-nominated comic book by Rob Feldman.
According to Deadline, the 12-minute pilot will be released through blockchain technology, on tech firm Replay’s Rewarded.TV web3 streaming service. The project is funded, produced, and distributed using revenue from an NFT collection from Theta Labs’ ThetaDrop.
Jon Heder, Tina Majorino, Efren Ramirez, and Jon Gries are all on board to voice characters in the pilot, with Heder starring in the lead role as the titular Cyko KO. Heder played the title role of a nerdy high-school student in the 2004 indie film Napoleon Dynamite, directed by Jared Hess.
Cyko KO follows Heder’s character, who is described as a “fourth-wall breakin’, pinball-addicted, cereal eatin’, motorcycle-ridin’ hero,” and his sidekick Peachy Keen and their pet Meemop. Together, they protect the colonies of SuperEarth from giant monsters and crazy characters in a show inspired by Saturday morning cartoons.
“The dream has always been to bring Cyko KO to the world of animation, and to do so through bleeding edge technology,” said Feldman, who serves as showrunner. “Between this incredible cast reunion and our partners at Theta, Replay, and Verified Labs, we are going to create something incredibly special for the fans who have supported Cyko and his friends for the past seven years.”
“We’re thrilled to be working with Replay and Rob on this drop,” said Kyle Laffey, Head of Partnerships at Theta Network. “Theta continues to build out our video technology and these NFTs are a perfect use case of how we can enable media and entertainment to enter Web 3. It’s only a matter of time before we see more media brands take this route and experiment with entire new business models for funding and distribution. Replay’s platform and Rob’s content are a natural pairing as early pioneers in this space.”
The Cyko KO Star Cards NFT is scheduled to drop at 12 pm PT on Friday, September 30.
