Scott Pilgrim takes off as an animated series with returning movie cast

NEW YORK – The cult action-comedy Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (2010) featured names that went on to become some of the biggest in Hollywood: actors Michael Cera, Brie Larson, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Kieran Culkin and Mary Elizabeth Winstead, along with writer-director Edgar Wright.

And the actors are back to voice the animated version of the story now streaming on Netflix, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Like the live-action film, the new series is based on the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels written and drawn by Bryan Lee O’Malley.

It follows the adventures of a Toronto indie guitarist, Scott (Cera), who desperately wants to date a girl named Ramona (Winstead), but must take on her seven evil exes to do so.

O’Malley wrote and executive-produced Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, which is co-produced by Wright, the English film-maker who directed action movie Baby Driver (2017) and horror film Last Night In Soho (2021).

At a fan event in New York earlier in 2023, O’Malley, a 44-year-old Canadian cartoonist, promises the eight-episode series will not be simply a retread of the 112-minute film.

For one thing, it will devote more time to the supporting characters, something Scott Pilgrim Vs The World was not able to do because of time constraints.

“The movie had to kind of be like, ‘Go, go, go’, and it had to be mostly about Scott’s story,” says O’Malley.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the anime version of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, is streaming on Netflix. PHOTO: NETFLIX

He also wants to spend more time on Ramona’s relationships with characters other than Scott.

“I always liked Ramona, and in the film, we didn’t get to explore quite as much about her backstory and motivations,” he says.

Michael Cera in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. PHOTO: UNITED INTERNATIONAL PICTURES

O’Malley adds that it was surprisingly easy to get all the actors to join the voice cast and reprise their characters. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published in September, he said he and the cast “were all pretty young when we made the movie”, and had “all felt like family… ever since”.

So when he and Wright started asking them to reunite, “everyone just very kindly and very promptly said yes”.

This, despite the fact that they are much bigger stars now.

For instance, Larson went on to win an Oscar for the kidnapping drama Room (2015), Evans played Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films and Kendrick scored a huge hit with the Pitch Perfect musical comedies (2012 to 2017).

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World was well received in part because of its unique style, which combined elements of the comics with video game-style visuals.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers (left) and Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim. PHOTO: NETFLIX

The series will not try to replicate that, but rather, embrace visual elements that can be accomplished only through animation rather than live action.

“It’s not a matter of trying to compete with the movie, but trying to let the animators do what they do best,” O’Malley says.

He was interested in exploring things that he could not do in the comic, such as sound.

“That was the dream, to do something outside the comic sphere.”

Chris Evans voices Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. PHOTO: NETFLIX

With many of the supporting characters more fully fleshed out, the show may pave the way for more spin-off projects, including one dedicated to Lucas Lee, an evil ex played by 42-year-old American actor Evans.

One of Ramona’s former boyfriends, Lucas is a stereotypically arrogant Hollywood action movie star.

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World starred Chris Evans as Evil Ex #2 Lucas Lee. PHOTO: UNIVERSAL PICTURES

The cocky character was one of O’Malley’s favourites to write for the show, he says. “It was just so much fun to do more with Lucas Lee. It’s such a ripe world of action movies and stupidity.”

• Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is available on Netflix.