{"id":107876,"date":"2025-11-13T21:49:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T02:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/?p=107876"},"modified":"2025-11-13T21:52:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T02:52:15","slug":"celebrated-animators-patrick-mchale-ian-jones-quartey-rebecca-sugar-and-pendleton-ward-unite-for-a-bold-narrative-experiment-in-three-acts-adult-swims-the-elephant-to-premiere-december-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/13\/celebrated-animators-patrick-mchale-ian-jones-quartey-rebecca-sugar-and-pendleton-ward-unite-for-a-bold-narrative-experiment-in-three-acts-adult-swims-the-elephant-to-premiere-december-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrated Animators Patrick McHale, Ian Jones-Quartey, Rebecca Sugar, and Pendleton Ward Unite for a Bold Narrative Experiment in Three-Acts, &#8220;Adult Swim&#8217;s The Elephant,&#8221; to Premiere December 19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-107880\" src=\"http:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-Elephant-20251113a.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"666\" height=\"999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-Elephant-20251113a.webp 666w, https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/The-Elephant-20251113a-200x300.webp 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 666px) 100vw, 666px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>&#8220;Adult Swim&#8217;s The Elephant&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> is a rare creative experiment in which each of the three-acts are made in isolation.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-107877\" src=\"http:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Elephant-20251113c.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"666\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Elephant-20251113c.webp 666w, https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Elephant-20251113c-300x169.webp 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 666px) 100vw, 666px\" \/>A powerhouse collection of animators have joined together for a one-of-a-kind event,<em><strong> &#8220;Adult Swim&#8217;s The Elephant,&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> premiering as an ad-free experience on Friday, December 19 @ 11:00PM ET\/PT on Adult Swim, next day on HBO Max.<\/p><div id=\"morty-936048313\" class=\"morty-content\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4937602850188786\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4937602850188786\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"5227734695\" \ndata-ad-layout=\"in-article\"\ndata-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Known for creating some of the most beloved and groundbreaking animated series in history, Patrick McHale (<em>&#8220;Over the Garden Wall&#8221;<\/em>), Ian Jones-Quartey (<em>&#8220;OK K.O.! Let&#8217;s Be Heroes&#8221;<\/em>), Rebecca Sugar (<em>&#8220;Steven Universe&#8221;<\/em>), and Pendleton Ward (<em>&#8220;Adventure Time&#8221;<\/em>) have reunited to push the boundaries of conventional storytelling &#8211; resulting in an animated adventure so mysterious, even they don&#8217;t know what it&#8217;s about.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Adult Swim&#8217;s The Elephant&#8221;<\/em> is a rare creative experiment in which each of the three-acts are made in isolation. With Sugar and Jones-Quartey working as a duo and McHale and Ward overseeing their own separate parts, the special is guided by &#8220;game masters&#8221; and <em>&#8220;Adventure Time&#8221;<\/em> alums Jack Pendarvis and Kent Osborne for a storytelling experiment that unfolds as a collaborative surprise, ultimately merging into a single, unexpected narrative.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Every year around this time, we try to give the Adult Swim audience a gift they didn&#8217;t know they needed, and this year, it&#8217;s<em> &#8216;Adult Swim&#8217;s The Elephant,'&#8221;<\/em> said Michael Ouweleen, president of Adult Swim. &#8220;But really, the gift was working with this brilliant team and creating an excuse for their longtime friendship and creative partnership to continue and evolve. We can&#8217;t wait for you to see the results of this crazy experiment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Adult Swim will debut a behind-the-scenes documentary, <em>&#8220;Behind the Elephant&#8221;<\/em> alongside an encore airing of the special on December 20 and on HBO Max, offering a rare look into the creative process featuring interviews and footage from the production. The documentary highlights the unique challenges and discoveries that made the project a truly original experience &#8211; for both the audience and the creators themselves.<\/p><div id=\"morty-4121181166\" class=\"morty-content_2\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4937602850188786\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4937602850188786\" \ndata-ad-slot=\"5227734695\" \ndata-ad-layout=\"in-article\"\ndata-ad-format=\"fluid\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script> \n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); \n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>&#8220;Adult Swim&#8217;s The Elephant&#8221;<\/em> is produced for the network by Titmouse.<\/p>\n<p>Adult Swim is the global leader in adult animation, offering critically acclaimed, award-winning series such as <em>&#8220;Rick and Morty,&#8221; &#8220;Robot Chicken,&#8221; &#8220;Genndy Tartakovsky&#8217;s Primal,&#8221;\u00a0&#8220;SMILING FRIENDS,&#8221; &#8220;Common Side Effects,&#8221;<\/em> and <em>&#8220;Women Wearing Shoulder Pads.&#8221;<\/em> Fan favorite anime block, Toonami, airs on Saturday nights and has expanded beyond acquisitions, producing original series including<em> &#8220;Ninja Kamui,&#8221; &#8220;FLCL,&#8221; &#8220;Uzumaki,&#8221;<\/em> and <em>&#8220;Lazarus.&#8221;<\/em> Adult Swim airs nightly from 5PM to 6AM (ET\/PT) on its linear channel and reaches fans via Max. Connect with Adult Swim on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Subscribe to Adult Swim on YouTube.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Adult Swim&#8217;s The Elephant&#8221; is a rare creative experiment in which each of the three-acts are made in isolation. A powerhouse collection of animators have joined together for a one-of-a-kind event, &#8220;Adult Swim&#8217;s The Elephant,&#8221; premiering as an ad-free experience on Friday, December 19 @ 11:00PM ET\/PT on Adult Swim, next day on HBO Max. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":"\"Adult Swim's The Elephant\" is a rare creative experiment in which each of the three-acts are made in isolation."},"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[333,732,27143,27145,27144,27147,27146,27148],"class_list":["post-107876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv_news","tag-adult-swim","tag-animated","tag-animator","tag-ian-jones-quartey","tag-patrick-mchale","tag-pendleton-ward","tag-rebecca-sugar","tag-the-elephant"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Celebrated Animators Patrick McHale, Ian Jones-Quartey, Rebecca Sugar, and Pendleton Ward Unite for a Bold Narrative Experiment in Three-Acts, &quot;Adult Swim&#039;s The Elephant,&quot; to Premiere December 19 - Morty&#039;s TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mortystv.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/13\/celebrated-animators-patrick-mchale-ian-jones-quartey-rebecca-sugar-and-pendleton-ward-unite-for-a-bold-narrative-experiment-in-three-acts-adult-swims-the-elephant-to-premiere-december-19\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Celebrated Animators Patrick McHale, Ian Jones-Quartey, Rebecca Sugar, and Pendleton Ward Unite for a Bold Narrative Experiment in Three-Acts, &quot;Adult Swim&#039;s The Elephant,&quot; to Premiere December 19\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8220;Adult Swim&#8217;s The Elephant&#8221; is a rare creative experiment in which each of the three-acts are made in isolation. 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