Mavis (TV series)

Mavis is an animated television miniseries based on Hotel Transylvania by Todd Durham. Produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, the series was released on Disney+ on November 29, 2022. Taking place between the events of Hotel Transylvania: Escape 2 Internet (2018) and Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2024), the series follows Mavis initially went to Santa Cruz, they went to Los Angeles to stay there with the horrible family called the Wilsons. When her biggest test come to defeat the evil sorceress, the Chameleon, while also Mavis will takes to be a true hero. Josie Trinidad, Jennifer Kluska, Stephanie Ma Stine served as head writer.
Selena Gomez reprised her role as Mavis from the film series. Brian Tyler composed the series' score. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
== Premise ==
Taking place between the events of Hotel Transylvania: Escape 2 Internet (2018) and Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2024), the series follows Mavis initially went to Santa Cruz with Dennis, they went to Los Angeles to stay there with the horrible family called the Wilsons. When her biggest test come to defeat the evil sorceress, the Chameleon.
==Cast==
=== Main ===
*Selena Gomez as Mavis Dracula, Johnny's wife, Dracula's daughter, Sam's stepdaughter and Dennis' mother, from whom he inherited his vampire abilities which he first developed on his fifth birthday, as do all pureblood vampires.
===Recruiting===
* Rihanna as Zhen, who is a wanted thief and befriends Mavis.
* Kathryn Hahn as Brenda Wilson, the mother of Katie, and Rick's wife.
* Jason Segel as Rick Wilson, the father of Katie, and Brenda's husband.
* Marsai Martin as Katie Wilson, the daughter of Rick and Brenda.
* Viola Davis as The Chameleon, a nefarious shape-shifting sorceress that can copy others' kung fu by absorbing their abilities and the main antagonist.
* Ke Huy Quan as Han, who is the leader of a den of thieves.
* Helen Mirren as Wendy Wilson, Rick's mother
* Rashida Jones as Hannah Wilson, Rick's sister and an FBI agent.
* Jason Momoa as Dante Robotnik, a former lackey of The Chameleon.
* Thue Ersted Rasmussen as Agent John: an agent working for "The Chameleon".
* Sarah Paulson as Agent Willoughby: an agent working for "The Chameleon".
* Lori Tan Chinn as Granny Boar, an elderly female boar who can take out her tusks and use them as weapons.
* Joe Jonas as Kraken, a giant music-loving sea monster
* Ronny Chieng as Captain Fish, a green arowana that lives in a pelican's mouth, who is his seemingly adoptive mother.
*
===Guest starring===
* Adam Sandler as Count "Drac" Dracula, Mavis's father, Johnny's father-in-law, Dennis's maternal grandfather and Sam's husband.
* Jayma Mays as Sam Sparks, Dracula's wife, Mavis' stepmother, Johnny's stepmother-in-law, and Dennis' step-grandmother.
*Steve Carell as Phil Betterman, the patriarch of the Bettermans who had a history with Johnny's parents.
*Ryan Reynolds as Jonathan "Johnny" Loughran, Mavis's human husband, Dennis's father, and son-in-law of Dracula.
*Asher Blinkoff as Dennis "Dennisovitch" Dracula-Loughran, Mavis and Johnny's dhampir son, Dracula's grandson, and Winnie's love interest. He has his mother's blue eyes and extraordinarily strong vampire abilities, and his father's orange hair and freckles.
*Danny DeVito as Vlad, Dracula's father, Mavis's paternal grandfather, and Dennis's great-grandfather.
*Kristen Wiig as Hope Betterman, the matriarch of the Bettermans and Phil's wife.
*Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schwartz, who befriends Mavis and Dawn.
*Rachel Bloom as Dawn Betterman, Phil and Hope's daughter and only child who befriends Mavis and Vanellope and is Johnny's old friend.
*Kevin James as Frankenstein, Drac's friend who hangs with Murray.
*John C. Reilly as Wayne, a werewolf.
*Keegan-Michael Key as Murray, a mummy who hangs with Frank.
*Jack McBrayer as Griffin the Invisible Man
*Maya Rudolph as Wanda, a werewolf and Wayne's wife.
*Sadie Sandler as Winnie, Wayne and Wanda's werewolf daughter, and Dennis's love interest.
==Episodes==
==Production==
===Development===
On December 10, 2020, following the success of Hotel Transylvania: Escape 2 Internet (2018), Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative officer Jennifer Lee announced that a spin-off series that focused on Mavis and based on Hotel Transylvania is in development at the studio for Disney+. Josie Trinidad, who worked as an head of story for the film, respectively, was set as the series' developer and head writer for the miniseries, along with Jennifer Kluska and Stephanie Ma Stine, respectively, with Yvett Merino and Jennifer Newfield. Lee executive-produces the series alongside Selena Gomez, who voices Mavis in the series, and Mike Mitchell.
=== Writing ===
Trinidad, who drew inspiration from other franchises such as Marvel Comics, said this was done as a way to expand the franchise's mythology by questioning how its events would affect the real world. The series is set between Hotel Transylvania 2 and Hotel Transylvania 3 (2024), and will include easter eggs to set-up the events and narrative of the latter. For The Chameleon, Trinidad sought to make her a more-brain-than-brawn kind of villain. He went on to say that she is the smartest and most supernatural foe Mavis has faced. He described The Chameleon as a mirror to Mavis in that both characters were underestimated by society for their bodies, but went on to gain high status. He said, "So Mavis wants become the greatest hero, and now she's the greatest villain".
=== Casting ===
In November 2021, it was reported that the series would follow Mavis as train to be a true hero. Also cast in recurring roles were Sarah Paulson, Thue Ersted Rasmussen, Kathryn Hahn, Marsai Martin and Jason Segel, with guest stars including Jason Momoa and Viola Davis would join the cast, with the latter playing the villain of the film, Dante Robotnik and The Chameleon. Additional cast members were confirmed, including Rihanna, Helen Mirren, Rashida Jones, Joe Jonas, Lori Tan Chinn, Ke Huy Quan and Ronny Chieng in June 2022. In October 2022, it was announced that Adam Sandler, Jayma Mays, Ryan Reynolds, Steve Carell, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Sadie Sandler, Jack McBrayer, Keegan-Michael Key, Kristen Wiig, Rachel Bloom, Sarah Silverman, Taraji P. Henson, Asher Blinkoff and Danny DeVito would reprise their roles in a guest star capacity.
===Animation===
The animation providers for the series include Walt Disney Animation Studios and Sony Pictures Imageworks in Vancouver and Montreal. In order to achieve the same animation quality as the movies, the animators made use of Disney's pre-existing character models and animation as a guide, allowing for a quicker animation development process.
For the designs for the new characters, the animators reused models featured in crowds within the original film. Production designer Scott Wills, who previously doing as the production designer in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), and co-art director in The Smurfs 2 (2022), worked closely with directors of photography Jennifer Yu Farr, Diana Jiang Zeng, Tracy Scott Beattie and Nathan Detroit Warner to develop the visual style for each episode. The Chameleon was Disney' most complex character to animate, with a total of 8,130 controls. One of the biggest challenges for the animation team was creating the massive Kraken character and simulating the water effects and destruction caused by the massive creature. This also allowed the producers to have an in-house animation team to work on both Mavis and Hotel Transylvania 3, which helped the team reduce costs. 
===Music===
In this place, Henry Jackman, who composed for Hotel Transylvania films, Brian Tyler, who also previously doing in The Smurfs 2, has been assigned to compose the music for the series. Dutch DJ Tiësto also provided music for the climax - "Tear It Down" for the disco party, and "Seavolution" and "Wave Rider" for Chameleon's Kraken brain-washing music; these were all released separately from the soundtrack and even also include in The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 (2023), while Joe Jonas also recorded "It's Party Time" for the film while he was voicing the Kraken, and for the third movie, he was replaced by Pharrell Williams, who also composed the songs from the two Hotel Transylvania films.
== Release ==
Mavis was released on November 29, 2022, on Disney+, and consists of ten episodes.