The first half of Adult Swim’s Primal won three Outstanding Achievement In Animation Awards at the 2020 Emmys, for storyboard artist Genndy Tartakovsky, art director Scott Wills, and character designer Stephen DeStefano. At the 2021 Emmys, the second half did even better, beating the likes of Big Mouth, Bob’s Burgers, The Simpsons and South Park to be named Outstanding Animated Program, for Plague of Madness. Storyboard artist David Krentz also received the show’s fourth Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation Emmy.
From Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Hotel Transylvania), Primal follows a caveman at the dawn of evolution and a dinosaur on the brink of extinction. The two creatures, one on the way out and one on the way in, become each other’s only hope of survival in a treacherous world.
The two 2021 Emmys are just the latest in a string of accolades for the show, including Best General Audience Animated Production and Best Directing at the 2021 Annie Awards. Primal has an 8.7/10 score on IMDb and a 100% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus is, “Epic in every sense, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal is a stunning feat of visual storytelling.”
Watch the show here on Showmax.