Nickelodeon’s New Series Max and The Midknights Reveals Exclusive Footage at New York Comic Con

Nickelodeon’s new animated show Max & The Midknights has everything from fire-breathing dragons to medieval castles. The series, based on Lincoln Peirce’ book series, follows Max (Blu Del Barrio) who embarks on a quest with her newfound friends to save the Kingdom of Byjovia from a menacing ruler. Zeno Robinson, Caleb Yen, Barrio, Peirce, and co-executive producers David Skelly and Sharon Flynn got together at New York Comic Con for a panel filled with exclusive clips and exciting announcements. 

After finding success with the “Big Nate” book series, Peirce sought out to do another fun project which found him talking amongst authors Jeff Kinney, Stephan Pastis, and Dav Pilkey about a girl protagonist. “All of us are sort of middle aged men who all had these characters of pre-adolescent boys and we got into this discussion of ‘Well, can one of us create a story that had a girl at the center of it?’” he said. “This was in 2013 when I started to think about this. Then I began to think many of the fans of the Big Nate books were boys and I thought I would like to get more girls reading the books that I write, but I don’t want to lose the boys. So I said, ‘What if I create the book and I make it a secret what the character’s gender is?’ So spoiler alert, Max is a girl. In the first Max books, I did not reveal that until about 50 pages in.” 

Peirce continued: “I wanted to subvert the expectations of the audience. They see this cover and a very dramatic pose of Max in a bow-and-arrow pose,” he stated. “Max is sort of a gender neutral name and I just felt confident. I just thought I’m going to make a book that’s so much fun to read that by the time they reach page 50, a boy who might not pick up a book featuring a girl main character, he’s not going to care at that point. He’ll be so invested into who Max is and what she’s all about.” 

Barrio talked about the deep connection they have with their character and how it fulfills their childhood. “I have been with this project for a very long time since it was just a teaser that we were hoping would be made into something bigger than it is now,” they said. “I am so grateful that I got to stay with it and stay in her shoes because I resonate with Max so deeply on so many levels. That is very much how I was as a kid. Some parts of my childhood were difficult, but I really relish in the adventure that I had in my mind, in my brain. So getting to play it out and relive all these good memories as Max is incredible. I mean, I didn’t have a character like this when I was younger so I’m really excited for audiences to see this and to see her and for those kind of kids to be able to resonate with her.” 

As Yen and Robinson talk about their respective characters and the journey they take throughout the show, an exclusive clip was shown to illustrate Robinson’s character's love for animals and the dynamic between Max and her friends. The clip titled “Rescue Doris” shows the gang as they attempt to save a sheep companion named Doris from sinister tentacles in a tightly packed action scene. 

The series has a unique visual style with CG animation that feels reminiscent of Peanuts. Skelly and Flynn share the thorough process behind bringing the books to life. “Our process was to start with Lincoln’s drawings, go to paintings and sketches, and then from there the CG modeling,” he said. “Using the silhouettes of the characters, we went into costume design. I reached out to a friend of mine Mary Vogt who was the costume designer for Batman Returns and Men In Black. I said ‘I got a really special assignment for you. I want you to bring that sense of realism to our cartoon characters.’ Then, we went to our character designer Sang Jun Lee. He did The Peanuts Movie so he has a specialty in translating comic strip characters into 3D.” 

Flynn added: “I really wanted to make it Max’s story and an epic arc for our character. We had 20 episodes to fit book one out of three. So it was really mapping out that journey for Max and getting excited about making it serialized. We take our characters on a journey, we end episodes on a cliffhanger, we plant stuff early that pays off later, and really making it feel like a 440 minute movie.” 

The messaging in the series about friendship, adventure, and chasing one’s dreams can be inspiring to the audience. “I love the idea that this is a show that the whole family can watch together. I feel like that sort of programming is running more rare,” Peirce said. “And if people take any sort of lessons out of the show about aspiration, finding yourself, and chasing your dream and all that, then that’s great. But first and foremost, I want it to be fun.” 

At the end of the panel, Robinson pointed to the screen with a QR code for attendees to pre-save the soundtrack album and an exclusive clip of one of the epic songs featured on it. Republic Records Kids and Family will release Max & the Midknights (Music from the Series) on October 30 on all streaming platforms. 

Save the day with the series premiere of Max & the Midknights on October 30 on Nickelodeon.