Kiff is back! Your fun-loving anthropomorphic best friends have returned for a brand new season! Ahead of the second season's premiere, a third season was announced in Jun. 2024 and officially renewed in February 2025! Since its premiere in March 2023, the show has proved to be a positive showcasing of themes such as optimism, friendship, and approaching the everyday challenges we all face with a positive attitude!
If you and your young ones aren't already familiar, Kiff is set in Table Town, where the adventures of a happy-go-lucky squirrel named Kiff are on full display. Along with his friend, Barry, a mellow rabbit, the duo take the island they live on by storm. The voice cast includes Kimiko Glenn as Kiff Chatterley, H. Michael Croner as Barry Buns, James Monroe Iglehart as Martin Chatterley, Lauren Ash as Beryl Chatterley. Animation veteran Tom Kenny voices multiple characters in the series as well.
The show is executive produced by Nic Smal, Lucy Heavens and Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio and Ben Kalina via Titmouse, Inc. alongside Disney Television Animation.
In this interview, The Parent Watch sits down with Smal and Heavens, the dynamic executive producers behind the hit show! With a rich history in both animation and storytelling, both have brought their unique visions to life in this colorful and heartwarming show. In our conversation, we dive into what inspired the creation of Kiff, the duo's sensibilities, and the one word they both would use to describe season 2. Read on to find out the answers and check out the trailer at the end of the article!
The Parent Watch: You two created a show that is really crafted around the adventurous side of a kid's show with the comedic elements, and even some emotional elements as well. The Lord of the Rings special, I found that to be so fun and cool! There's obviously a huge fan base with Lord of the Rings, and with Kiff, a developing fan base. Whose idea was it to do this?
Lucy Heavens: I mean, that core ring light? That was Nick's idea. Kent [Osborne] wrote the script, and we had been discussing ways to do this that we were all of us in the writer's room. We were all really keen to do [it].
Nic Smal: We were talking about epic stories like Christmas Carol. When you see shows doing well-known stories and enjoying how satisfying it is to see the characters that you know from these shows taking on these well-known roles. We were thinking, 'How could this work in the world?' and along the lines of all these different stories, and we're talking about an epic quest. The ring light just fell into place. It was like, 'It's a ring. It's a circular. Kiff's got to take this ring light. It's Lord of the Rings.' It's got to be Lord of the Rings. The moment that that just came, it was all so clear. It felt like everything just fell into place. It was so clear who the characters were going to be. It was so much fun to make that special.
The animation team behind this really did a fantastic job of incorporating those fantasy elements.
Check out the full special below on Disney Channel's official YouTube channel:
What can fans expect from this new season?
LH: There are a number of episodes that stand out to me. We've had such a good time creating season 2. We're beyond excited for people to be able to see it. We feel like we've stepped up, and the songs are just so good. We've just gone into Table Town and there are people that we've met that we really get to know. There are some new and very funny characters!
NS: We've gone deeper. You're going to see some new locations. You're going to get to know some of the school friends a little more. There's one episode in particular that's featuring one of my favorite musical artists named Orville Peck. That is a real standout episode for me. It's my favorite, and I'm really excited. We've got some great guest artists [as well].
Are there any new themes or, more specifically, any that you feel are going to set this apart from the first season that people who are just now getting into Kiff might be surprised to find out?
LH: We touch on many new themes, but that basic exploration of friendship and love remains the same throughout. The way it's being expressed in new, fun, and creative ways, that's the part we enjoy the most; Finding new ways to express that theme.
How did you two decide of the visual style and tone for the show?
LH: I'm not an artist. I'm a writer. So, in terms of coming up with the style, I was feeding back with Nick!
NS: For the characters and the visual style, it's just my style of drawing characters and going, 'Okay, this is a weird way that a bear would look. It's a bit dumb-looking. It's a bear, but it doesn't quite resemble one.
LH: We love 'the dumber, the better' in that beautiful metaphysical dumb way.
NS: There's also something so nice about the simplistic shape language. Kiff is just basically a big old circle, Barry is a very simplistic button. The visual style going into the world and everything has that roundness and that very simplistic appeal visually. When it comes to the tone of the show, Lucy and myself have a very similar sense of humor, and we love absurdity. When we spoke about stories and characters, we just made each other laugh, and that was just our sensibility that shaped the tone.
LH: That's still our main aim, just to make each other laugh throughout the process of making this fun show.
Where did you pull inspiration from when creating [the character] Kiff and some of the other characters, such as Barry?
LH: I'm Kiff. I was a nerd, but a confident nerd. We're asking ourselves, 'Would Kiff do that?' I often use myself when I was a kid as a gauge. I was a nerd, but I didn't always make the right decisions, and I messed up a lot. At the same time, we used to talk about Kiff as 'Psychology 101', and that all of these characters were represented different parts of everyone's psyche. Everyone's got a Kiff in them that bites off more than it can chew. Everyone's got Barry: Nurturing. [Someone who says] 'maybe we should ask some questions first. Kindness. Everyone's got a Helen (Lucy voices Helen, a witch and a drama teacher at Table Town Middle School). Everyone's got something that's just looking to take care of number one. That's what we started playing off of more and more.
NS: On the surface, one can look and misinterpret and go, 'Oh, okay, so Kiff's got energy, Barry is a little bit slow and dumb'. It's not the case. Barry sees the world through the 'Barry lens', and he's got his own approach. He gets it. Don't underestimate Barry. We liked this really nice balance between the two of them. Honestly, that friendship that is between Kiff and Barry truly is the concept of the show. You believe their friendship and you believe that love, it exists. To us, we always felt that that was real. It wasn't anything that we had to manufacture. When we talk about any situation that they find themselves in, we understand exactly how Barry would act, how Kiff would act, and how they would have each other's backs. It was really about a closeness and a love between Kiff and Barry that would always shape Kiff.
Are there any challenges in creating this series, whether it's through the animation or even story?
NS: There is no shortage of stories in our writers' room. Any innovative show.
LH: We have thousands of challenges, but writing is just not one of those things.
NS: The challenge is actually picking which stories to tell because there's so many that you want to and you're like, Okay, we got to balance it out. So we have the best time in the writer's room. We've got such a great room. Any experience, it's so easy to unfurl any small experience into a story.
LH: Nick and I will have trouble parking and there's a story or we'll have an argument over the last slice of pizza, and that becomes a story.
NS: To be honest, we're always honest.
You haven't been honest this entire interview. I totally get it.
NS: Everything before this was absolute nonsense! [laughs]. The show is an absolute dream. It's a joy to make. Even in the animation side of things, we feel visually and stylistically, if you watch from season one and you see where we've landed up going into season two, the visual style of the show, it's just growing and evolving. And we're constantly tightening as we go. So, it's fun. The artists that we work with are having fun, and they're putting their own fun Easter eggs that you'll see from episodes in the background. Anyone's getting to have fun in Table Town. That is going to show in season 2.
Since the show got renewed, there's obviously vested interest. When it comes to fan response or just even hearing from friends and family, what do people say to you when they're talking to you about Kiff?
LH: They say, 'I hate your show'. No! [Laughs]. The people who do speak to us are just so kind. The best part, the best feedback for us is when a parent or an uncle I love watching this show with the kids in my life and can reference episodes even and clearly enjoys it. The idea of creating an experience for people to have, that is so heartwarming and so lovely for us to hear about.
NS: When people reach out and say that they sing certain songs together as a family, and they have certain jokes and lines that they repeat from the episode as a family. They've told us it's really given [them] something to bond over. That's the most incredible thing to hear. Other than that, every now and again, I'll see online that there's a community that follows the show, and you see these people talking about the characters and the groups of friends like they are friends of theirs that they have in real life. That is also really wonderful to see, because to know that people connect so deeply to characters and feel connected to them is wonderful to hear. That's great as well. Great feedback.
I want to address the music in the show! Super catchy and to hear that other people are saying that directly to you just shows that there's just some amazing work going on. I think similar to my previous question, are there just a bunch of songs that get crafted, and then you have to choose from them?
NS: We always have an original song every episode. One of those two 11-minute stories will have an original song, and we always like the song to conceptually sit well within the story. We will always look and go, 'Okay, which episode is the song going to really suit here? Where's the song going to live, and how is this going to be a part of the story?' That's always the best way for a song to be in an episode.
LH: Nick writes all the original songs. We have a really good time together, like he said, embedding them into the story. The songs are crafted as the outlines come up as opposed to any other way. We have actually retrofitted an episode to a song before. It's harder than the other way around.
NS: When we're in the writer's room, we'll always, very early on go, 'This one, we think this is going to have a song.' and starting to think about what the song is going to be, what style it's going to be, the genre, how it's going to fit in, and then starting on that as early as possible. I'm always working on a song, at least one or two songs at any given point.
LH: The song being worked on right now is for the first episode of Season 3!
You have some incredible talent in there. Kimiko Glenn, James Monroe, Iglehart, Tom Kenny, H Michael Kroner. The list goes on and on.
LH: We're in every record. H is, and has been for season 2, our voice director. He started out as just the voice of Barry, and our voice director at the time just got too busy. H took over, and you have someone who is so invested in the show because he's such an integral part of the show. He understands the show. So, we have a really lovely shorthand with H in terms of getting those performances. Otherwise, yes, we have such a great cast. We enjoy that day of the week so much when we go into the studio and can play with the actors!
NS: Everyone is so wonderful to work with. We have such a great time. It feels like all of the cast are getting to know the show better and better, and they're having a good time recording. We're having a good time. H is like a good friend now. We hang out outside of work. Every Tuesday, we record in the studio.
In one word, how would you describe Season 2?
NS: 'Yikeseeola'!
LH: Season 2 is 'everything'! It's got everything in it.
Want a sneak peek? Check out the Season 2 trailer on Disney Channel's official YouTube channel:
Season 2 of Kiff premieres on March 15 at 10 ET only on Disney Channel, the new season will be streaming this summer on Disney+!