EXCLUSIVE: Misfit janitors in a mysterious research facility are the subject of Doomsweepers, an animated comedy-horror series out of Australia.

Monkie Kid series director Sarah Harper has created the “horror-action-comedy” show with Sydney 2D animation studio Flying Bark onboard as producer. Also attached are Lightfold, Olan Rogers’ comics and animation studio aimed at creators. We can reveal today that L.A. publishing house Gungnir has also boarded the project.

A crowdfunder round held in collaboration with Lightfold has launched to raise further financing. A first-look trailer has dropped on YouTube to support the raise. You can see that above.

Last week, Flying Bark and Lightfold dropped a teaser for the project, but no key details were dropped at the time. We’ve now got word on the fun-looking antics it could provide.

Here’s the Doomsweepers synopsis: “Set in a mysterious research facility, Doomsweepers follows a team of misfit janitors who go from cleaning the staff room one day, to saving the world the next, and in doing so they unravel the facility’s best kept secret.”

Producers say the “candy-coloured art direction brings a unique, vibrant energy to the show that provides a visual point of difference from traditional dark, dystopian, apocalyptic content.”

Flying Bark is a 2D animation specialist based in Australia, with studio locations in Sydney, L.A. and Madrid. Recent productions include Netflix’s Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, Paramount’s Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender and original series Shaun Tan’s Tales from Outer Suburbia.

Lightfold, meanwhile, launched in 2023 to develop animated projects that have a direct connection to fans. Final Space creator Rogers and producer Forrester Kane created the biz, with the former’s crowdfunded animation pilot Godspeed its debut project. It launched on YouTube three years ago and has received more than 2.2 million views. 

Gungnir is known primarily as a counter-culture comics publisher, but has struck a series of deals to develop properties as TV shows and films, and vice-versa. In December 2025, it launched Gungnir Animation Studio to become “the Cartoon Network of the digital era.”

Harper – a writer, director and showrunner known for work on Lego’s Monkie Kid franchise and Nickelodeon’s Glitch Techs and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – developed the “deeply personal project inspired by unsung heroes.”

She added: “The idea for Doomsweepers was born in 2019, when Australia was battling catastrophic bushfires, only to be hit by a global pandemic soon after. In those moments of uncertainty, I found myself drawn to the stories of everyday people who stepped up when it mattered most. 

“The Doomsweepers aren’t your typical heroes: they’re janitors in a tech facility, overlooked and underestimated. But when chaos erupts, they rise to the occasion, proving that courage can come from the most unexpected places.”

Here are a further selection of images.

It’s an epic story being told on an epic stage. The critics are having their say on George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: The Mad King, the UK stage adaptation of the hit novels and series.

The sold-out show’s reviews embargo finally lifted after previews began a couple of weeks ago at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s home of Stratford Upon Avon. The ambitious production has drawn a number of strong notices. First look images courtesy of the RSC are below. This after multiple early shows were cancelled, much to fan ire.

Whatsonstage gave the star a glowing five-star review, calling it “a triumph; a soaring, surging spectacle and a latter-day history play, both serious and popular…It is a remarkable achievement, wonderfully directed by [Dominic] Cooke and superbly acted by every member of the 35-strong ensemble. The result is a brilliant exhibition of how theatre can create magic.”

The Guardian gave the show 4/5 stars, calling “an action-packed saga of dry ice and fire…this prequel to the TV series has one joust after another, spectacular stagecraft and plenty of modern resonance.”

Metro also gave the show 4/5 stars, writing: “As a stand-alone piece of theatre, The Mad King scrapes through. But as an extension of the Game of Thrones world, it scores well, shifting the narrative to the stage with suitably theatrical thrust.”

The Independent was also a fan, noting in its 4/5 star review, that the “stellar stage show has all the thrillingly staged battles, gory deaths and, yes, dragons that the most bloodthirsty fan could hope for… there’s also a surprising amount of heart – of the warm, still-beating kind – as it lingers on the faces of its fallen.”

The Daily Mail lauded the show but was one of many to acknowledge the challengingly long running time: “The first half of Cooke’s superbly staged, spectacular production has the feel of a dynamic Bayeux Tapestry: a stunning pageant of medieval stop-motion animation. But after the interval, the plot takes off. Sparks fly romantically and dramatically, which is just as well because, at three hours 45 minutes, it’s almost as long as Hamlet.”

The Telegraph had similar things to say in its largely positive review: “At almost four hours, it’s a long evening, sometimes too dense with detail, and it lacks the grit and gore (not to mention the nudity) of the TV series…Still, it capably serves newbies and devotees, and speaks in a timely fashion to our age of unruly leaders…It’s not up there, yet, with the Harry Potter or Stranger Things prequels but, on balance, the Game of Thrones franchise has yet another worthwhile and lucrative spin-off on its hands.”

The Times was one of the few dissenting voices, claiming that while the play “gives hardcore GoT fans a chance to go hunting for ‘Easter eggs’, it seldom comes close to matching the grim aura of the TV series…Duncan Macmillan’s script is sorely lacking in poetry. Events plod forward, one after the other, and although Michael Shaeffer is a thoroughly compelling presence as the cruel and chronically unstable monarch Aerys, other performances seem nuance-free. Too many lines are simply shouted. You expect better of the RSC.”

Game of Thrones creator Martin is said to have been heavily involved in the play, having a representative in rehearsals at all times, and he attended the opening night in Stratford on Saturday.

The Mad King is a stage prequel that, according to its official synopsis, is set in Harrenhal as a long winter begins to thaw. “At a lavish banquet on the eve of a jousting tournament,” the synopsis reads, “lovers meet and revelers speculate about who will contend. But in the shadows, amid growing unease at the bloodthirsty actions of the realm’s merciless Mad King, dissenters from his inner circle anxiously advance a treasonous plot. Far away, the drums of battle sound. Family bonds, ancient prophecies, and the sacred line of succession will be tested in a dangerous campaign for power. Who will survive? Who will rise?”

The play is inspired by the “Robert’s Rebellion” lore of Martin’s sprawling book series, in which the married Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, son of the Mad King Aerys, falls in love with, and runs off with, Lyanna Stark. This leads to a rebellion led by Robert Baratheon, who is engaged to Lyanna. Successfully deposing the Mad King, The Rebellion leads to the downfall of House Targaryen.

EXCLUSIVE: Israeli drama Fauda will return to Netflix on September 8, and we’ve got first-look images here.

Season 5 of the show, which comes from lead star Lior Raz and writer Avi Issacharoff, is set two years after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Haunted by the trauma of the events, Daron Kavillio (Raz) and the other fighters embark on a deadly race to stop a catastrophic attack on Israel, forcing them to confront the true cost of warn after war.

Melanie Laurent and Hakim Djaziri are joining the cast alongside Ram, with Yaakov Zada Daniel and Doron Ben-David returning. The show debuts on Netflix globally following its run on Israeli network Yes, which is the commissioning broadcaster.

Omri Givon is the director and writes alongside Omri Shenhar, Issacharoff, Raz, Sari Azoulay Turgeman, Yona Rozenkier and Nir Berger. Raz and Issacharoff scrapped their first scripts for Season 5 following the October 7 attack and reformulated with that shocking event at the center of the story.

Liat Benasuly is the producer, with Nitay Netzer the DoP, Rachel Ben Dahan the costume designer and Sari Azoulay Turgeman the editor.

Yes TV and L. Benasuly Productions are the co-producers with Yes Studios on international distribution. The eleven-episode season filmed across Israel and Hungary.

“This is a TV show, not reality. But we thought that there is still a story here to be told,” said Issacharoff, co-creator and exec producer. “We wanted to ask very tough questions to people all over the world, not only in Israel. Is the revenge worth it? Is continuing this very endless cycle of bloodshed worth it? Where is it taking you? I think these are the questions that are at the heart of this season.”

Fauda has often been lauded for portraying the incredibly complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a relatable way, while opening a window into the situation in the present-day Middle East. Netflix has acquired all seasons to date.

Below is a selection of pictures from the new season.