Based on the 2019 DreamWorks animated film, Abominable, Abominable and the Invisible City is now available to stream on both Peacock and Hulu. The series follows the adventures of Yi, Everest, and the rest of their friends, as they discover an entire world of magical creatures living right under their noses. Determined to help animals like Everest find their place, the group winds up on countless new adventures.
The series stars Chloe Bennet as Yi, Tenzing Trainor as Jin, Ethan Loh as Peng, Michelle Wong as Mei, Karen Huie as Nai Nai, Darin De Paul as Everest, and Alan Cumming as Burnish.
Screen Rant chats with Director Ruolin Li about the process of turning DreamWork's Abominable into a ten-episode television series.
Ruolin Li Talks Abominable and the Invisible City
Screen Rant: Since you didn't direct the original film, how did you end up getting involved with the TV series?
Ruolin Li: A lot of people, like our producers and our EP, kind of know me from other DreamWorks projects that I've worked on before. And so when our producer, Rachel, called me saying "Hey, Ruolin, I have this perfect project for you. Are you interested? It's about Abominable, but an extension of making it into a TV show," I jumped at the chance. I'm Chinese. I'd love to work on a show about a Chinese girl and her magical adventures.
Screen Rant: That's amazing! Were the previous directors involved in this project at all? Or was this all you?
Ruolin Li: I don't think so. The TV show is its own new thing.
Screen Rant: The process of making an animated series is obviously different than a live-action. Abominable was about an hour and a half, while this is ten episodes. How long did it take you to put the whole season together?
Ruolin Li: I think it's like a typical TV series. They spend months writing pre-production, like, taking the original script from the movie. And then our amazing showrunner, Katherine, and our story editors, Ethel and Tiff, they come together and then expand that world into multiple fantastical creatures and multiple stories every episode. That takes months of pre-production. And then we come in and do our storyboard, we do our design—that's another year. So, I'd say, this whole TV series probably took about two years.
Screen Rant: There are so many ways to keep a story going when you're taking a show and turning it into a movie. However, when you're taking a movie and turning it into a show, it seems more complex, just because movies have a beginning and end point. Did you run into any challenges with that?
Ruolin Li: I feel like the Abominable series is focused on these fantastical, legendary Chinese creatures. That, in itself, is almost like an expandable idea. You can just say, "Oh, Everest is our first in line," and then we can just come in and bring in all the other fantastical creatures and there are so many of them.
We can just expand our characters and flesh out their daily lives and flesh out their stories and say, "Okay, we were introduced with Jin, Yi, and Peng in the original movie, but what are they really like in their day-to-day lives? They go to school. Do they have their struggles?" And then their family business and all that stuff. So yeah, it's almost a no-brainer to make this into a series because you have so many stories to tell and explore.
Screen Rant: Since the show is about a bunch of different magical creatures, do you have a favorite from this season?
Ruolin Li: Oh, so many are like the combination of just heart and funny. I think my favorite is probably Tod the toad and Morty, the Pangolin-inspired creature. They're kind of a tie for me. They're both really funny, their stories are funny, and the adventure that they throw our kids into are just so fun to watch.
Screen Rant: What about the musical aspect of this? Yi can obviously make flowers bloom with her violin. Is that going to continue to be a big part of the story?
Ruolin Li: Yes, absolutely. So, Yi's magical violin is part of what makes her feel like she has that kind of sense of responsibility and her destiny to continue to explore these fantastical elements in life and then keep helping these creatures. And then sometimes her music helps her, sometimes her music stumps her, giving her like, "Is this magic mine? Or is this magic outside my control?" And so, for her, working with her magical violin is an important step in finding her true self.
Screen Rant: All the characters are great, and I'm sure it's hard to pick a favorite. Is there one that's fun to play around with creatively, from a director's standpoint?
Ruolin Li: I think I love Jin the most if I have to pick one, but then I'd say equally, Jin, Peng, and Yi—their dynamic is just so sweet and so fun to watch all three of them kind of banter together. Their personalities play off of each other. Jin is a little bit vain, a little bit cocky, but also, at the same time, he's a little bit of a wimp, and he's scared of a lot of things. And so that is really fun to watch.
And then Yi is selfless and very ambitious, very driven. So she's the straight-lace and always like, "Let's go, go, go!" And Peng is always the fun laid back like, oh, you know, "Chill. Let's have some fun." So all three of them put together this perfect dynamic, so I love them all. And not to mention, Nai Nai is also a really funny character.
Screen Rant: Oh my gosh, she's great. I think she might be my favorite.
Ruolin Li: That's awesome. Yeah, she's just this really cute, but also fierce little lady that you don't want to mess with.
Screen Rant: Lastly, I just wanted to ask what your plans are for the show. Is it a limited series? Or is this something that you hope you'll be able to keep going?
Ruolin Li: I don't think I can say more at this point, but we'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully, everybody enjoys the first season, and we'll see!
About Abominable and the Invisible City
Abominable and the Invisible City is a comedy adventure series that continues the wild and wooly fun of DreamWorks Animation's Abominable. Through Everest the yeti, Yi, Jin, and Peng know that there's a whole magical world out there, and now it's even closer than they think.
Check out our other Abominable and the Invisible City interviews here:
Abominable and the Invisible City is now available to stream on Peacock and Hulu.