Kate Beaton’s Fat Pony now has its own animated series

Those of us who lived full-time on the internet in the decade from 2008 to 2018 still fondly remember the days of Hark! A Vagrant, the erratic, idiosyncratic webcomic written and drawn by artist Kate Beaton. The strip always had a peculiar, personal sense of humor: When Beaton wasn’t doing one-off strips lampooning Canadian history, the one-dimensional “strong female character” stereotype, or her versions of the books suggested by Nancy Drew covers, she was doing random things like drawing a comically fat, stubby pony, then sending it on weird, weird adventures.

The Fat Pony eventually became the 2015 children’s book The Princess and the Pony, and now it’s become an eight-episode animated comedy as well. The first trailer for the Apple TV series Pinecone & Pony showcases Beaton’s distinctive art style, with chubby, big-eyed cute characters running around a stylized setting. The series appears to be built around big energy and small-scale fantasy drama, with an official description promising “an adventure led by two independent warriors who are fearlessly themselves.”

Image: Apple TV Plus

Pinecone & Pony was produced by DreamWorks Animation and First Generation Films. Beaton is one of the executive producers, but the series showrunner is Stephanie Kaliner, a writer-producer known for animated shows like Gary and His Demons and Go Away, Unicorn! (Which looks a lot like this show.)

The series premieres April 8 on Apple TV Plus.