The Gorillaz animated television show is in development. The Beatles, New Kids on the Block, and MC Hammer. What do all of these musical acts have in common? The answer is that all of them had animated television shows at one point in their career and soon you'll be able to add the Gorillaz to that list. Band members Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett have teased the idea of a feature length Gorillaz film since the band formed in 1998, but nothing has ever come to fruition for the project. It appears that after 5 studio albums the band is ready for their animated dream to come true.

In a conversation with Q Magazine at the beginning of April, Albarn and Hewlett confirmed that a Gorillaz animated series of ten episodes is in development. Now in a new interview with Exclaim Hewlett offered up some more information on the animated series. See what he had to say below.

"I'll direct the first and the last one but we'll have to get someone in to direct the other episodes. I think even attempting to do it all by myself will kill me."

Hewlett went on to talk about the 2-D style of animation that the series will have.

"I think it's a beautiful style of animation. Everybody does cg now, and it is great when you're making backgrounds, like environments and landscapes, but not the actual characters. I'm still very much inspired by the work of Chuck Jones, and I love that animation. It's art. I'd like to keep the characters in that style for the rest of this campaign. So the characters on the show will be 2D, but everything else is up for grabs."

Although this isn't a ton of information, this is much more info than what was ever given about a full length film. And it is definitely enough information to get Gorillaz fans another thing to be excited about.

Gorillaz is a band that formed in 1998 after Albarn and Hewlett were watching MTV and noticed that there wasn't a whole lot of substance from music and videos (back when MTV played music videos), so they started a cartoon band in a sort of protest. The band at that time included Del The Funky Homosapien, Dan The Automator, and Kid Koala as well as Albarn and Hewlett. Hewlett is also known for his comic book, Tank Girl and provides all of the visuals for the Gorillaz including album art, visuals for concerts, and even magazine covers. Hewlett and Albarn are the only permanent band members with other collaborators coming and going.

The Gorillaz have brought their cartoon band to life on tour over the years by using projections and holograms for performances. In addition, the band's videos and even books have shown the image of the cartoon band's story while keeping the artists behind the band hidden in the shadows. Gorillaz are a band tailor-made for an animated series, so one has to wonder why it has taken nearly 20 years to get a project like this off the ground. Regardless, fans are definitely excited for a Gorillaz animated series.

Gorillaz fans have a lot to be excited about right now. The band's 5th studio album, Humanz, came out yesterday to positive reviews from critics and fans. Humanz is the first Gorillaz record since 2010's the Fall, which was almost entirely recorded on an iPad by Albarn and seen as a companion piece to 2010's Plastic Beach. In addition to the new album the band has recently announced that they will be doing a small North American tour in support of Humanz during the summer and fall of 2017.