Hilda (TV series)

**Hilda** is a British-Canadian animated series based on the graphic novel series of the same name by Luke Pearson. The series debuted on September 21, 2018 on the streaming service Netflix and ran till December 07 2023 with a total of 3 seasons and 1 movie.

Produced by Silvergate Media and Mercury Filmworks, and directed by Andy Coyle, the show follows the adventures of Hilda, an 11-year-old girl who, along with her deerfox Twig, travels to the city of Trolberg, where she conquers even the most dangerous of monsters.

## Premise

Like the graphic novels it is based on, the series is set in a fantasy world that mostly resembles late 20th century Scandinavia. According to director Andy Coyle, the world of Hilda was deliberately designed not to resemble 1 specific real-life location, but rather a vague amalgamation of various countries, mainly Scandinavian, British and North-American, so it can feel simultaneously familiar and foreign. The time period was also deliberately kept vague, but was mostly modelled after the early 1990’s. The series resolves around Hilda, a young blue haired girl who grew up with her mother in a cabin on the edge of the woods near the walled-in city of Trolberg. Over the course of the series, she and her deerfox Twig, later accompanied by an elf named Alfur, move from their cabin to the city, where Hilda befriends two other kids named David and Frida. Togehter, they go on a number of adventures interacting with and befriending the mysterious animals, people, and spirits that live in and around the city of Trolberg.

## Production and Release

Hilda's creator, Luke Pearson, had previously worked in the animation industry beforehand, serving as a storyboarder on several Adventure Time episodes. When he started the graphic novel series, he didn't seriously consider it might get an animated adaptation, though he did have a few thoughts about how the character could work in animation even before he worked on the first comic. Before Luke Pearson was approached by Silvergate, there had been some interest from a few production companies about making a Hilda adaptation, though nothing had ever been agreed to. Pearson felt as if those other proposals skewed the idea of what the Hilda series is supposed to be, and that they felt off, only leaving the outer shell of the idea and changing other fundamental things.

In 2014, Silvergate producer Kurt Mueller found the graphic novel *Hildafolk* at a US indie bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. Producers at Silvergate loved the book, and were interested in bringing it to television.
Later that year, Luke Pearson received a proposal for a Hilda animated series from Silvergate through his mail. The proposal pitch was styled as a book from Hilda's satchel in Hilda and the Bird Parade, even coming with a Trollberg library card and a small elf letter inside, as well as a wooden USB stick that contained the actual pitch. At that point, three books in the Hilda series had been published, with the 4th one, Hilda and the Black Hound, being worked on at the time. Pearson enjoyed the proposal, and soon discussions began with Silvergate. When Pearson and Silvergate started working together on a pitch, they wanted to build upon the original books while simultaneously keeping the general feel that the series had. Luke was specifically concerned in making sure the show didn't feel "too TV and formulaic."

Along with head writer Stephanie Simpson, Luke and Silvergate created a pitch bible that would be used to pitch the show to various broadcasters. Some elements from the books were expanded upon to help fill out the show. For example, the characters of David and Frida were originally minor characters that appeared in *Hilda and the Black Hound*, but were turned into main characters for the show. Simpson specifically picked those characters out and expanded on them so they could fill out roles as Hilda's friends.

The show was pitched to Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney and Children BBC without succes. Netflix eventually picked up and greenlit the series in 2016. On June 15, 2016, The New Yorker briefly announced that the show was in production, and that Netflix had ordered a "twelve-episode animated series, based on the first four books, for early 2018."

Mercury Filmworks, an Canadian animation studio known for working on various animated Disney television shows, came on board early in development. A minute-and a half animation test was created to figure out how the show would move and look. There were various experiments with the show's design and art style to see what would work best for the adaptation. Additional animation was provided by Atomic Cartoons, who helped animate 8 episodes. Luke Pearson created the preliminary sketches for characters and the backgrounds, which would then be translated into a finished design by Mercury. Some characters were given dot eyes as to help make characters like David better blend in to the style of the show. The creatures in the show, as well as the book series, are heavily based on Scandinavian folklore. One of the biggest inspirations used for the show was Scandinavian Folk-Lore: Illustrations of the Traditional Beliefs of the Northern Peoples, written by William Alexander Craigie. Many creatures in the show were taken directly from these tale

The first two episodes were screened at the *New York International Children's Film Festival* on 25 February 2018. The first season was released on Netflix on 21 September. Season 1 adapts the first four books of the graphic novel series, and also contains multiple new stories written specifically for the animated series.

A second season was announced on October 8, 2018, and released on 14 December 2020.

Two episodes of season 2 were screened at the *New York International Children's Film Festival* on 22 February 2020. An 80-minute movie special titled Hilda and the Mountain King was released on December 30th, 2021.

On 9 June 2021, Ako Mitchell, the voice of Wood Man, announced on Twitter in a deleted tweet that a third season is currently in development. Later in september of 2021, Ameerah Falzon-Ojo, the voice of Frida, shared on her Instagram stories that she was recording her voicelines for the eight episode of season 3 and leaked some pages of the script as so.

On November 19, 2021, it was announced on the website of Silvergate that the third season was offical and will be the final season of the show. According to series creator Luke Pearson, the thirth season will "move on from the events of the movie, and into new territory." It will also "have a more focused, ongoing story" than the previous two seasons.It will also have 13 episodes, like the preceding seasons. In may 2022 Oliver Nelson, David's voice actor, confirmed on the Hilda Discord server that he was still doing David's voice for season 3 after questions were asked if he was being replaced because he was replaced in the audiobooks that were realiserd earlier that year.

On August 21, 2022 it was announced that Cartoon Network will air the first season of Hilda on television in France starting on september 3, 2022. CN France will air the series every weekend. This making Hilda the first Netflix series airing on that network.

Concept art.More concept art.Hilda 🇫🇷- Nouvelle Série 2022-2French trailer.
## Episode Listing

### Season 1 (2018)

* Chapter 1: The Hidden People
* Chapter 2: The Midnight Giant
* Chapter 3: The Bird Parade
* Chapter 4: The Sparrow Scouts
* Chapter 5: The Troll Rock
* Chapter 6: The Nightmare Spirit
* Chapter 7: The Lost Clan
* Chapter 8: The Tide Mice
* Chapter 9: The Ghost
* Chapter 10: The Storm
* Chapter 11: The House in the Woods
* Chapter 12: The Nisse
* Chapter 13: The Black Hound

### Season 2 (2020)

* Chapter 1: The Troll Circle
* Chapter 2: The Draugen
* Chapter 3: The Witch
* Chapter 4: The Eternal Warriors
* Chapter 5: The Windmill
* Chapter 6: The Old Bells of Trolberg
* Chapter 7: The Beast of Cauldron Island
* Chapter 8: The Fifty Year Night
* Chapter 9: The Deerfox
* Chapter 10: The Yule Lads
* Chapter 11: The Jorts Incident
* Chapter 12: The Replacement
* Chapter 13: The Stone Forest

### **Hilda and the Mountain King**

An 85-minute special Hilda and the Mountain King was released on December 30th, 2021.

### Season 3 (2023)

* Chapter 1: The Train to Tofoten
* Chapter 2: The Fairy Mound
* Chapter 3: The Giantslayer
* Chapter 4: The Laughing Merman
* Chapter 5: The Job
* Chapter 6: The Forgotten Lake
* Chapter 7: Strange Frequencies
* Chapter 8: The Fairy Isle

### Awards and Nominations

*Hilda* has so far won six awards, and was nominated for four others.

## Tie-In Material

* Flying Eye Books has published A series of illustrated childrens' novels based on the animated series.
* The game Hilda Creatures.
* The books Hilda's Sparrow Scout Badge Guide, Hilda's Book of Beasts and Spirits and Hilda's World: A guide to Trolberg, the wilderness, and beyond.
* Various merchandise produced by GUND.

## See also

* List of Hilda references in other media: for other works that reference the Hilda series.

## References

1. ↑ Making Hilda and the Mountain King | Full Interview with Director Andy Coyle and AD Megan Ferguson 19:00
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Hilda: From Comic to Screen
3. ↑ This claim came from a random Twitter account named "Kurt", but the account was also followed by Bryan Korn at the time it was said, who is the series producer of the show. The best assumption for person behind the account named "Kurt" was Kurt Mueller. Unfortunately, at the time of the writing ( 3rd November 2022 ), both Bryan and Kurt have left Twitter, with Bryan left around February 2022, while Kurt left somewhere around October 2022. The original tweet from @ThatHartleyKat is still up, however.
4. ↑ Here Comes Hilda, The New Yorker, June 15, 2016
5. ↑ SONY PICTURES TELEVISION ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF CHILDREN’S MEDIA COMPANY SILVERGATE TO STRENGTHEN ITS ENTRY INTO THE KIDS GENRE, released on DEC 10, 2019
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://nyicff.org/programs/hilda-2/
7. ↑ [1]
8. ↑ Hilda - Série/Feuilleton Animation - CARTOON NETWORK ce samedi - Programme tv (03/09/2022 - 11:30) (programme-tv.com)