New Details on Disney+ Series ‘Iwaju’ Revealed During Annecy Panel

The Disney+ series from Walt Disney Animation Studios and Kugali, shared new details yesterday.

During an Annecy Animation Festival Panel yesterday, new details were shared around the Disney+ animated series Iwaju.

The series involves talent working remotely from Nigeria, Uganda, London, Montreal, and Burbank. It’s truly an international effort on Iwaju. During the panel, writer/director and Kugali co-founder Ziki Nelson revealed that the series themes would be class divide and inequality but other story details would remain under wraps.

The Kugali and Disney collaboration came about after Disney Animation’s Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee read a story that the young upstart Kugali was aiming to challenge Disney. Instead, the two animation companies are working together.

The series Iwaju will take place in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria. The city’s design will be a design mash-up of Disney and Kugali’s styles. The series will heavily rely on technology, for example, there will be classes of flying cars and vendors who were exoskeleton suits that can propel them upward.

Disney VFX supervisor Marlon West (Frozen) is working on the long-form Disney+ series along with Natalie Nourigat (Far From the Tree) who is head of story. The series was created by Ziki Nelson, Tolu Olowofoyeku, and Hamid Ibrahim.

Iwaju will premiere on Disney+ in 2022.