A squire’s job never ends and young Patrick is set to pick up his sword again soon.
Hulu has renewed animated medieval comedy Crossing Swords for season 2, according to Variety. The renewal comes just under a week after the first season consisting of 10 episodes premiered on June 12. The show’s second season will receive a 10-episode order as well. Like most streaming services, Hulu does not make its viewership data publicly available but the company must have found something it liked in Crossing Swords’ numbers. The streamer released a brief teaser to celebrate the show’s renewal.
Crossing Swords comes from John Harvatine IV and Tom Root, who were previously best known for their work on Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken. The adult animated series follows the adventures of young squire Patrick (Nicholas Hoult) as he works under a king no one particularly likes in a kingdom where no one is particularly happy. The show utilizes a stop-motion animation style similar to that of Robot Chicken. This led to a pretty liberal policy on nudity, blood, and all other sorts of medieval mayhem in the show’s first season. Hulu’s logline for the first season reads:
“Patrick is a good hearted peasant who lands a coveted squire position at the royal castle however his dream job quickly turns into a nightmare when he learns his beloved kingdom is run by a hornet’s nest of horny monarchs, crooks and charlatans. Even worse, Patrick’s valor made him the black sheep in his family, and now his criminal siblings have returned to make his life hell. War, murder, full frontal nudity—who knew brightly colored peg people led such exciting lives?”
In addition to Hoult, the voice cast is made up of Luke Evans, Alanna Ubach, Adam Pally, Tara Strong, Tony Hale, Adam Ray, Seth Green, Breckin Meyer, Yvette Nicole Brown, and others. Harvatine IV, Root, Green, Matthew Senreich, and Eric Towner serve as executive producers.
In its announcement, Variety notes that animated offerings have become more popular at networks and streaming services due to the coronavirus outbreak. The COVID-19 pandemic has made live-action series difficult to film, while animated series can be worked on remotely more efficiently. That could indeed be the case for Crossing Swords, though its animation style is rather unique and likely difficult. Hulu also announced a renewal of Solar Opposites for season 3 alongside Crossing Swords season 2. Both shows join Marvel projects M.O.D.O.K. and Hit Monkey on Hulu’s animated docket.
While much of Crossing Swords storytelling in season 1 was largely episodic in nature, the finale did leave the door open for a more serialized storyline in season 2. There is no early indication yet of what Crossing Swords season 2 will entail or when it might premiere.