The Ant and the Grasshopper (TV series)

The Ant and the Grasshopper is an American animated comedy adventure streaming television series loosely based on one of Aesop's Fables of the same name for Netflix. It premiered on November 23, 2029 on Netflix. The series has received critical acclaim for its animation, humor, story and voice acting. In December 2029, Netflix renewed the series for a second season which will be titled The Ant and the Grasshopper: Mandibles From Far Away.

Premise
In a tiny town called Bugtropica in Central Park, Aaron, a young scout ant finds a picnic basket that fell from the sky. The rest of ant colony also saw it and start carrying off the spoils of the picnic to store for the winter season. Hops, a lazy grasshopper claims that the basket came from the human city called New York City and convinces them the humans have better food. He guides him to the city against the ant wizard, Zadok's wishes. A swarm of fierce hornets led by Arrow has already set their sights on the loot and would stop at nothing to steal it from them. After sliding down an embankment inside the basket and into a stream on the tin, Hops and Aaron, accompanied by a honeybee named Henry, his sister Beatrice, and a crew of friendly insects, set sail across all around New York City on a hair-raising adventure against hornets, other insects, animals, and even humans and pest exterminators to gather as much food for the winter as possible.

Main

 * Neil Patrick Harris as Hops, a lazy yet free-spirited and intelligent grasshopper who would rather spend the summer singing and playing his fiddle than work all day and never worries about tomorrow. But when the winter season arrives, he finds itself dying of hunger and understands why Aaron and the ants work hard during the summer.
 * Max Charles as Aaron, a timid yet inventive and hard working scout ant who is always well prepared and afraid of the outside human world, until Hops guides him through New York City. He is Henry's best friend, Hops' closet friend, and Beatrice's love interest/boyfriend.
 * Narrated by Ringo Starr

Insects

 * J.K. Simmons as The Thief, a cockroach who follows Hops and Aaron and steals food from human kitchens and other insects.
 * Liam Neeson as Arrow, the leader of the hornets and the main antagonist who pursues Aaron, Hops, and the others and wants to kill them and steal the picnic basket of food.
 * Beyoncé as Queen Anastasia, the queen ant and Aaron's mother figure who is beloved by the colony.
 * Will Forte as Henry, a cautious honeybee who is Beatrice's brother and Adam's best friend.
 * Ilana Glazer as Beatrice, a good-hearted, adventurous honeybee who is Henry's sister and Aaron's love interest/girlfriend.
 * Julia Roberts as Cassandra, a kind-hearted nurse ant and Zadok's love interest/mate. She is very influential and leaves a good impression on Hops. She stays by Aaron's side no matter what. She is also protective of the ones she loves and considers Aaron her pupa.
 * Nicolas Cage as Zadok, a wizard ant who is Aaron's student and Cassandra's love interest/mate. He had a strong hatred for the humans or bugs interfering around humans, especially Hops due to his laziness and free-spirited lifestyle, but he learned of the goodness in their hearts by seeing how Hops taking care of his friends.
 * Matthew Broderick as Bob, a sensible yet adventurous cockroach.
 * Richard Dreyfuss as Flyer, a crazy, self-centered bluebottle fly.
 * Max Casella as Cecil, a timid yet creative caterpillar (later butterfly) with big dreams.
 * Regina King as Karna, a forager ant with a tough, no nonsense personality around her ant pupa-students. She is very grounded, but becomes soft whenever someone she cares about is hurt. She is a caring ant overall and has a soft spot for Fungus and began a romantic relationship with him.
 * Bruce Campbell as Fungus, a "brave and tough" scout ant. He is a little full of himself, but he has a loyal heart. He is kind hearted and overexaggerates situations a bit, but he means well. He is also very flirtatious, especially with his love interest, Karna.
 * Nick Kroll as Stripes, one of the swarm of hornets.
 * Andy Dick as Thorne, a dirty and dust hornet.
 * Amanda Leighton as Poppy, Aaron's maggot sister who is an outgoing and fearless pupa ant. She loves adventure, monsters, and having fun with her family. Although she is young, she has the heart of an explorer.
 * Tara Strong as Nate and Kate, mischievous identical twin houseflies. They like pranking and playing jokes other insects and get into trouble, but can easily get out of it.
 * Gillian Jacobs as Dahlia, a sweet natured damselfly, and Bob's romantic interest.
 * Jane Leeves as Mrs. Lydia, a lovely ladybug.
 * Susan Sarandon as Willow, a black widow spider, who chose Flyer as her romantic interest rather than lunch.
 * David Thewlis as Brian, a worrywart earthworm.
 * Bob Joles as Antony, Aaron and Poppy's father and skilled farmer. He is overprotective and cautious.
 * Emma Thompson as Queen Bernadette, the queen bee.
 * Aziz Ansari as Sal, a slug, Slime's best friend and caretaker of the pods.
 * Chris O'Dowd as Slime, a snail, Sal's best friend and fellow caretaker of the pods.
 * Wang Leehom as Mantis, a wise preying mantis.
 * Wally Wingert as Head council red ant.
 * Kevin McDonald as Head council orange ant.

Humans

 * Tony Hale as Wilfried, a local pest exterminator and the secondary antagonist.
 * Zac Efron as Shawn, a 15-year old hardworking boy and Lisa's older brother who befriends the bug gang.
 * Quinn Copeland as Lisa, Shawn's 10-year old sister who is fascinated with insects.
 * Michelle Williams as Janice, Shawn and Lisa's mother.
 * Carol Burnett as Mrs. Hera, Shawn's paranoid neighbor who becomes suspicious of the bug gang running around her house and stealing her food.

Development
The initial idea for the series originated in 2017 during Brandon Greene's High School years at McNair. In 2026, when he was fresh off of Zippy: The Movie, he pitched the idea project to different studios. It was originally going to be live action film with computer animated insects. The insect characters were going to have no dialogue at all. Just a narration from former Beatles member, Ringo Starr and only the humans talking in a style akin to a nature documentary to make it different from other animated bug films. Executives wanted a cute story of insects talking to make it appealing for kids. In 2027, Greene moved the film to the small screen on Netflix because no one would think this would become a money making machine and turned it into a 2D animation. He borrowed elements from other animated bug films such as: A Bug's Life, Antz, Bee Movie, The Ant Bully, and James and the Giant Peach.

On April 29, 2027, Netflix announced it had given the production a series order consisting of thirteen episodes. At the same time, Deadline Hollywood reported that production on the series will take three years and is expected to be the most expensive animated program to make with each episode costing five to six million dollars. Production companies involved in the series include Warner Bros. Animation, A Very Good Production, A Stern Talking To and Gulfstream Television. Animation services are provided by Chromosphere Studio, Deluxe Animation Studios, Folimage, Snipple Animation Studios, Tonic DNA and Yowza! Animation. The series was originally slated to premiere in the fall of 2028 before receiving its fall 2029 premiere window. On December 20, 2029, Netflix renewed the series for a second season. The second season is expected to air in 2031.

Casting
On February 19, 2029, the cast of the series was announced with Max Charles and Neil Patrick Harris voicing the lead roles while Beyoncé, Will Forte, Ilana Glazer, J.K. Simmons, Liam Neeson, Matthew Broderick, Nicolas Cage, Julia Roberts, Richard Dreyfuss, Zac Efron, Nick Kroll, Michelle Williams, and Tony Hale would have supporting roles. They kept Ringo Starr as the narrator.