Harold & Kumar: The Animated Series (partially found Adult Swim pilot of cancelled TV adaptation of film trilogy; 2011-2015)

Promotional poster & logo for the series' table read

Status: Partially Found

This article has been tagged as NSFW due to its footage of uncensored female genitalia.

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Harold Lee (played by John Cho) & Kumar Patel (played by Kal Penn) are the beloved titular characters for the 2004 buddy stoner-comedy film, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. This 2004 film, directed by Danny Leiner and written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, will go on and later receive massive positive critics and audience reactions and was also a massive commercial success. The film would be the start of the Harold & Kumar franchise that would later go on and spawn two more follow-up sequels: one in 2008 entitled Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and another one in 2011 entitled A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas.

In addition, in 2011, whilst the third movie was to be released, there have been words that an animated series for Harold & Kumar was being worked on and being pitched to various networks.

On May 15th, 2012, the adult-oriented animation cable channel, Adult Swim, greenlit and unveiled seven pilots for its catalog, one of which is an untitled animated Harold & Kumar project that was to be produced by Lionsgate, with actors John Cho and Kal Penn reprising their roles as Harold Lee and Kumar Patel, this time in animated treatment. The animated series was animated by Bento Box Entertainment, which has footage of the show in their demo reel.

Information

After being contacted by LMW user NormieDude, editor Amy Blaisdell confirmed that the pilot is the only episode that they have produced. According to Blaisdell, the pilot is a direct reference and spoof on the 2004 ABC survival-mystery-drama TV series, "Lost", on which both Harold and Kumar after being in a plane crash, landed on a mysterious island and tries to get back to their destination.

The pilot had 3 versions however, and the differences of which one were on the censors to which various genitalia and nudity were either pixelated, blurred out, or were completely uncensored.

Blaisdell has since confirmed that the pilot is within the hands of Bento Box Entertainment.

Production

On July 10th, 2014, a bunch of cast members posted pictures of various materials for the animated series on their respective social media accounts.

A now-deleted Instagram post from actor Kal Penn with him stating that he was recording the pilot episode.

Actor Kal Penn (@kalpenn) posted pictures which would reveal the series' title, "Harold & Kumar: The Animated Series", and would also post pictures of what the characters of Harold and Kumar would look like in the series..

Another actor confirmed to be in the series, Gary Anthony Williams (@GaryAWilliams) posted a picture of the whole cast for the animated series, which confirms the involvement of actors Kari Wahlgren and Jess Harnell.

Another actress, Paula Graces (@paulagarces1), and Jon Hurwitz (@jonhurwitz), one of the two prominent writers of the film trilogies, confirmed their involvement when they posted pictures on their respective Twitter accounts of posters for the table read for the cast that happened the day before, which was on July 9th, 2014..

Availability

Throughout the following years, the series never aired on Adult Swim and was likely quietly canceled, with no official reason on why is given. Few Twitter users have expressed interest in its pilot after actor Kal Penn posted a snippet of the pilot to his Instagram on February 2015 but said Instagram post with the snippet was deleted. Fortunately, it was archived by fans and still can be viewable around the Internet
(Note: Said snippet contains uncensored female genitalia, so keep this in mind before watching said video.)

On January 27th, 2023, Twitter user @FullCowl03 found footage from the show that was included in Bento Box's 2016 demo reel. though it is unclear if the footage in it is included in the pilot for the show. These two videos are the only known videos that includes footage from the show and the full pilot hasn't been available as of January 2023.

On January 30th, 2024, LMW Discord user, chickennugget, found the storyboard animatics for the pilot from storyboard artist Paul C. Lee who had worked on the storyboards for the pilot

Gallery

Images

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  Promotional poster & logo for the series.

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  Cast for the series; from @GaryAWilliams

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  Harold Lee & Kumar Patel in animated form; from @kalpenn

Videos

Stay Up Late Productions' video on the topic.

FullCowl03's video on the topic.

See Also

• 12 oz. Mouse (lost original pilot of Adult Swim animated comedy series; 2004)
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force "Boston" (found unfinished episode of Adult Swim animated comedy series; 2008)
• The Eric Andre Show (partially found demo tape for Adult Swim sketch comedy series; 2009)
• King of the Hill (partially found Adult Swim bumpers for Fox animated sitcom; 2011-2013)
• Mary Shelley's Frankenhole "Mother To Be-Sa" (found unaired episode of Adult Swim stop-motion animated series; 2010)
• Moral Orel "Abstinence" (found episode of Adult Swim stop-motion animated series; 2008)
• The New Big Ball With Neil Hamburger (found unaired Adult Swim pilot; 2010)
• Penguins Behind Bars (found Adult Swim exclusive pilot of animated series; 2003)
• Rick and Morty "The New Jared" (lost series of unaired Subway commercials for Adult Swim animated sitcom; 2010s)
• Soul Quest Overdrive (lost unaired episodes of Adult Swim animated series; 2011)
• Three Busy Debras (lost unaired pilot of Adult Swim surreal comedy series; 2018)

External Links

• Wikipedia page for Harold & Kumar
• r/LostMedia post about the lost pilot.
• Lost Media Busters' tweet on the lost pilot.
• Paul C. Lee's website portfolio that includes animatics from Harold and Kumar.