Twende the pangolin arrives

Showmax is set to launch its first 2D animated series,  Twende, on Friday, 1 December. The show, which made its debut with a pilot at the Annecy animation festival in 2021, offers a humorous take on the life of a pangolin named Twende. Despite being the slowest creature in the savannah, he works as a boda boda driver to taxi other animals around.

“Twende is genuinely my highlight of things I’ve watched within African animation,” says 702 entertainment commentator Yalezo Njuguna. “It is so funny.”

The show explores the clash between Twende’s philosophy of “life is about the journey, not the destination,” and the demands of his unconventional job.

Showrunner Greig Cameron (known for Supa Strikas, and Seal Team) says: “Twende is the kind of guy who gets you to your meeting three hours late, but you still give him a big tip because you loved hanging out with him so much”.

An interview with Cameron:

Who is your spirit animal among the cast?

“My personal favourite is poor old Boss, the perennially broke and exhausted hyena who owns the boda boda agency where Twende works. He’s delightfully unscrupulous. He is also constantly tortured by his children, who are eating their own homework, their desks, and definitely their dad. As the loving parent of two young children myself, I don’t know if it’s just about getting people to suffer with you, but watching Boss’s kids harass him gives me joy every single time. Twende is technically aimed at 6-11-year-olds, but it’s definitely also for parents, because I’m working through my own parenting issues throughout this show”.

How’s the feedback been from your kids?

“My three-year-old has really started emotionally manipulating me because she knows she can’t watch TV after supper, so she wants to watch daddy’s Twende then. Which I suppose is a good sign”.

What is it like working with Sheldon Bengtson as head writer?

“Sheldon is hilarious, a prolific writer, and a delightful weirdo, all of my favourite things! We totally resonate on the same frequency. I am so used to being the guy pushing the jokes further and further, so me having to be the person to say: ‘No, dude, that’s too weird. We can’t do that.’ was a really fun role reversal”.

What is it like working the cast?

“My last animation was a feature for Triggerfish called Seal Team, and I was very, very lucky to go to Hollywood and work with some A-list stars [we’ll namedrop for Greig here: think Oscar winner J.K. Simmons, Emmy winner Matthew Rhys, Emmy nominee Kristen Schaal, Grammy winner Seal and action legend Dolph Lundgren, among others]. With that in mind, I have been blown away by the comedic talent of our Kenyan actors. Some of these people were born to make cartoons; they are hilarious. We have Junior Nyong’o as Twende, so our tiny goal is to make him bigger than his sister by the end of the show”.

What do you hope kids take away from Twende?

“Twende is really about the humour and hijinks, but we also want to introduce audiences to the colourful culture and traditions of East Africa, teach them a few Swahili catchphrases, and make them fall in love with pangolins, which are the most trafficked animals in the world and now on the endangered species list. At its core, Twende is also about two unlikely friends: Twende and his navigator Nuru, who celebrate each other’s differences, even if they drive each other crazy sometimes. And it’s about slowing down, which we feel is incredibly important for kids to recognise in a world that is increasingly disconnected and fast-moving.”