‘Smiling Friends’ Creator Sets Animated Series ‘Dad’s House’ at Netflix

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A new project from Smiling Friends co-creator Michael Cusack has found a home at Netflix.

The streaming service announced Wednesday that adult animated series Dad’s House is set to debut on the platform. Cusack is an executive producer and showrunner alongside Dario Russo and David Ashby, who co-created the Australian comedy series Danger 5 and were also behind Italian Spiderman.

Set in suburban Australia, Dad’s House focuses on 13-year-old Sean, who spends every other weekend with dad Ian following his parents’ divorce. Ian does his best to make the most of his time with his son, but the single father has a knack for complicating things.

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Cusack, Russo and Ashby lead the voice cast alongside Felicity Ward, who starred in the Australian version of the comedy series The Office. Dad’s House hails from Princess Pictures and Bento Box Entertainment.

Netflix’s other notable adult animated comedies include Haunted Hotel and Long Story Short, which will both return for a second season, and such venerable favorites as Big Mouth and BoJack Horseman. Also on the horizon are Mating Season, Dang! and Alley Cats.

In February, Cusack joined Smiling Friends co-creator Zach Hadel in a video that was posted to social media to announce that they had decided to end their Adult Swim absurdist animated series with its recently concluded third season. Last year, The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reported that the project had been picked up for seasons four and five. Smiling Friends debuted in 2022 and centered on co-workers Charlie (voiced by Hadel) and Pim (Cusack) attempting to bring positivity into the lives of others.

“To be perfectly honest, after we finished season three, Zach and I just both had the same feeling where we felt pretty burnt out after putting years and years into this, but also pretty accomplished,” Cusack, who also created Adult Swim’s YOLO, explained at the time. “We just came to this feeling where we’re like, ‘I think that could just be it after season three.’ We both felt like it was right.”

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