Netflix Announces Exploding Kittens Game And TV Series About God And The Devil As Cats

Netflix has announced it will create both an Exploding Kittens video game and TV series, marking the first time it's releasing a game and a show based on the same franchise. Netflix has been ramping up its efforts in the video game space, and this is just the latest and biggest step in that campaign.

Exploding Kittens - The Game, a new version of the existing mobile game, will launch directly through Netflix in May. After that, Netflix will release an "adult animated comedy series" based on the game in 2023. It will feature Tom Ellis (Rush, Lucifer), Abraham Lim (Clickbait,The Boys), Lucy Liu (Shazam, Elementary), Ally Maki (Wrecked, Toy Story 4), Mark Proksch (What We Do In The Shadows, Better Call Saul), and Sasheer Zamata (Woke, Home Economics).

In the show, God and the Devil come to Earth in the form of "chunky house cats," reigniting the "eternal conflict between Heaven and Hell," according to Netflix's announcement.

King of the Hill's Mike Judge and Greg Daniels are executive producers through their Bandera Entertainment production house. Exploding Kittens co-creator Matthew Inman is the showrunner alongside Shane Kosakowski. Exploding Kittens' other creator, Elan Lee, is an executive producer on the series, too.

As for the video game, it will be much the same as the existing mobile title, but there are two new cards exclusive to the Netflix version. These include Radar (reveals the position of the Exploding Kitten closest to the top of the deck) and Flip Flop (reverses the order of the cards in the deck). Once the show arrives in 2023, additional cards and mechanics will be added, based on the show. Like Netflix's other games, the Exploding Kittens game is available for free without any microtransactions.

"The co-development of a game and animated series breaks new ground for Netflix," Netflix's Mike Moon, said. "And we couldn't think of a better game to build a universe around than Exploding Kittens, one of the most inventive, iconic, and original games of this century! Netflix is the perfect place to explore this growing franchise and we are so fortunate to be working with this incredible team!”

Exploding Kittens the physical card game was funded on Kickstarter in 2015, and it was a quick success. The campaign raised more than $1.5 million in a matter of minutes.