‘Win or Lose’ Trailer: Pixar’s First Fully Original TV Series Swings for the Fences
The trailer for Pixar Animation Studios’ first-ever original series, “Win or Lose,” has been released, with the full series streaming on Disney+ on February 19. The animated show features the intertwined stories of eight characters as they prepare for their big championship softball game. Those characters have undergone at least some adjustments at the behest of Disney, which requested the removal of a storyline about a trans character and adjusted lines of dialogue to remove any mention of gender identity.
“When it comes to animated content for a younger audience, we recognize that many parents would prefer to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline,” a spokesperson said in a statement to IndieWire at the time.
Each episode of “Win or Lose” focuses on the perspective of a different character, including the kids, their parents, and the game’s umpire, and the trailer reveals how dreams and anxieties are rendered in a colorful and sometimes mixed-media animation style. The fantasy vignettes and shifts of perspective are a device likely aimed both at kids who love a good visual gag and at anyone who wants sports stories to be about more than what’s on the field; the sweat monsters and orange soda oracles off the field are included.
“I played softball growing up,” said Carrie Hobson in a statement. Hobson wrote, directed, and executive produced the series with Michael Yates. “Inspired by that experience, we felt fast-pitch softball was the perfect backdrop for the show. There are so many facets to playing sports that I love — it can bring out the best and worst of a person; the calmest person can lose their temper. And when it comes to winning and losing — the consequences are nothing, and yet, they’re everything. We really felt like it was the best arena for the themes we loved.”
In addition to the potential of sports to load thematic bases, “Win or Lose” features some musical experimentation with a score by Ramin Djawadi, probably best known for the much grittier fantasy of “Game of Thrones” and “House of the Dragon,” and songs by Djawadi and CAMPFIRE.
“Win or Lose” features the voices of Will Forte, Rosie Foss, Josh Thomson, Milan Elizabeth Ray, Rosa Salazar, Dorien Watson, Izaac Wang, Chanel Stewart, Lil Rel Howery, Melissa Villaseñor, Jo Firestone, Flula Borg, Kyleigh Curran, Jaylin Fletcher, Erin Keif, Tom Law, Beck Nolan, Orion Tran, and Rhea Seehorn.
Watch the trailer below.
