Gen Zed (partially found unreleased pilot of animated series; 2015)

A scene from the promo, featuring the main cast and logo

Status: Partially Found

Gen Zed is an unreleased animated comedy created by Hayden Black that starred transgender actress, Julie Rei Goldstein as the voice of the main character. A 2-minute promo was released on YouTube in June 6, 2015, without a release date. After a year of the promo's release, no update about the show has been announced. In spite of this, an official Twitter, Facebook, and website has continued to remain active. Months following the release of the promo, the show's official YouTube Channel released a Dorito's advertisement that recycled animation from the previous promo.

The show has been deemed controversial for branding itself as "the first animated comedy to feature a transgender actress in a lead role".

Premise

Characters

Shona Sommers (Julie Rei Goldstein)
Cameron Atwood (Kevyn Richmond)
Huey Ware (John M. Keating)
Betsy Chan (Emily C. Chang)
Taylor Adams (Jane Wiedlin)
Miguel Jiminez (Marcelo Tubert)

Synopsis

The Gen Zed official website gives a premise to the film:

Hey! Welcome to Gen Zed – an edgy animated comedy about a young Trans woman who wants to be a stand up comic and her online friends who move in together. It’s Friends meets Modern Family – with a huge dollop of The Young Ones. The show’s pilot will be released in 2016.

Production

According to the official Youtube Channel, Gen Zed was animated in a small studio from Korea. The series is not associated with any television channel, but there is speculation that it could have become a webseries. Gen Zed is said to be released somewhere during the year of 2016, however there have been no announcements on the show's progress. Whether it is cancelled or experiencing delay is unknown.

Controversy

For a short time during the release of the promo, Gen Zed received major backlash for poor animation quality, political pandering, flat characters, and its claims as the first series to feature a transgender actress. In defense of the show's claims as the first to feature a transgender character in a lead role, Gen Zed's official Tumblr has stated that Shona will assume the role as the protagonist. All videos on the official Youtube channel have disabled the like feature.