Almost 20 years ago, a bizarre, scary, and genre-bending cartoon arrived on Nickelodeon. It was unlike anything the network’s audiences had been treated to before, something so zany and out-there that it unfortunately didn’t last long, at least comparatively. The show was Invader Zim, about an extraterrestrial who comes to Earth on a mission to enslave the human race. He’s joined by his robotic servant Gir and rubs shoulders with a young man named Dib, a paranormal investigator tasked with thwarting Zim’s destruction intentions.
The show lasted two seasons, topping out at just 27 episodes, but has become a cult favorite in the years since. In May 2019, Netflix bought the distribution rights for a continuation of the story, a film titled Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus. A trailer dropped today that sheds some insight on what this new story is all about, and where we find Zim, Gir, and Dib.
Zim discovers his almighty leaders never had any intention of coming to Earth and he loses confidence in himself for the first time in his life, which is the big break his human nemesis, Dib has been waiting for.
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus was written and directed by the show’s original creator Jhonen Vasquez, cowritten by Breehn Burns and Gary Wilson, and brings back voice talents Richard Steven Horvitz as Zim, Rosearik Rikki Simons as Gir, and Andy Berman as Dib. (Fun fact: Mark Hamill was the original voice of Zim, but was replaced before the pilot aired because Vasquez didn’t think his voice fit the character.)
More Invader Zim has been in talks for years so it’s exciting to see this project finally coming together, especially with all of the original people in place. We can’t wait to see how it all comes together when Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus debuts on Netflix on August 16.
Feature image: Netflix