All-Star Cast for New Moomin Animation Series, Moominvalley

Rosamund Pike, Kate Winslet, Taron Egerton, Warwick Davis, Matt Berry, Richard Ayoade, Will Self and Akiya Henry among cast members to voice the inhabitants of MOOMINVALLEY.

Gutsy Animations, the Finnish production company bringing the Moomins to life in a family TV drama, has today (Tuesday 12 September 2017) announced the first tranche of cast members confirmed to star in the animation series.

Taron Egerton will play the much-loved Moomintroll, with Rosamund Pike as the wise and caring protector of the Moomin family, Moominmamma, alongside Matt Berry’s adventurous and knowledgeable Moominpappa. Akiya Henry will voice the part of style-conscious and sometimes flirtatious Snorkmaiden.

Kate Winslet takes the role of spick and span Mrs Fillyjonk, while philosopher and deep thinker, The Muskrat, is played by author Will Self. Warwick Davis plays Moomintroll’s adopted younger brother, the slightly cowardly little creature Sniff, and Richard Ayoade will enjoy spooking viewers as The Ghost.

Creation of novelist, painter, illustrator and comic book artist Tove Jansson, the Moomins are one of Finland’s biggest cultural exports with the original books having been translated into over 50 languages and the previous animation broadcast in 124 territories.

Creative Director and Executive Producer at Gutsy Animations, Marika Makaroff, said, ‘We are thrilled with this stellar cast who have been carefully chosen to inhabit Tove Jansson’s much-loved characters. They will speak to audiences young and old and for the family drama that we are creating, which doesn’t shy away from the depth and complexities of Jansson’s original work, they couldn’t be a more talented or suitable line up.

’MOOMINVALLEY is being made using a cutting-edge 2D/3D hybrid technique, where characters are rendered in 3D in an environment with some 2D illustrative or painterly elements. Two series of 13 x 22-minute-long episodes are slated to air in spring 2019.

The pioneering animation is produced by an outstandingly talented team, including Oscar®-winning director Steve Box; BAFTA- and Emmy-winning producer John Woolley and Emmy-winning writing duo Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler. Classical violinist Pekka Kuusisto and percussionist Samuli Kosminen, both from Finland, are creating the music for the series. Kuusisto’s father composed with Tove Jansson in the 1970s and wrote the Finnish National Opera’s Moomin Opera in 1974.

The animation is being developed in association with Yle Drama and with the full support of Moomin Characters, the business set up by Tove Jansson and her brother Lars to manage the Moomin brand. To this day Moomin Characters is run by family members with Sophia Jansson, Lars’s daughter and Tove’s niece, as Chairman of the Board and Creative Director.

Sophia said: “Tove gave the inhabitants of Moominvalley the values of tolerance, love, respect, friendship and bravery – which are needed in today’s world more than ever. We’re very excited to have a wonderful cast and team who share these values bringing Moomin to life in a new way for fans young and old.

”Further cast members, including the actors who will voice popular characters Snufkin and Little My, will be announced in the coming months.

For further information please contact Caitlin Allen at Riot Communications on

020 3174 0118 / 07814 403 000 / caitlin@riotcommunications.com

Cast and characters:

• Moominmamma – Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, A United Kingdom, An Education)
• Moominpappa – Matt Berry (The IT Crowd, Toast of London, The Philanthropist)
• Moomintroll – Taron Egerton (Kingsman, Eddie the Eagle, Testament of Youth)
• Snorkmaiden – Akiya Henry (Bing, Bottersnikes and Gumble, Noddy in Toyland)
• Sniff – Warwick Davis (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Life’s Too Short)
• Mrs Fillyjonk – Kate Winslet (Titanic, Revolutionary Road, The Reader)
• The Muskrat – Will Self (Shooting Stars, author of Phone and Sky Arts drama The Minor Character)
• The Ghost – Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd, presenter of Travel Man & Crystal Maze)

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Gutsy Animations

Gutsy is a team of creators and producers who believe that the world is in need of funny, clever, gutsy and – above all – meaningful content.

All of its productions are aimed at international audiences and based on a concept of genuine social impact.

About Moomin Characters

Oy Moomin Characters Ltd is the owner, originator and official company responsible for supervising and managing the Moomins’ brand, copyright and registrations. The company was started in 1958 by Tove Jansson and her brother Lars Jansson and even today is run by family members. Sophia Jansson, Lars’s daughter and Tove’s niece, is Chairman of the Board and Creative Director at Moomin Characters. All characters from Moominvalley are registered trademarks.

Moomin in the UK

A series of major Moomin-themed events and exhibitions have taken place in the UK in 2017, including Southbank Centre’s immersive Adventures in Moominland and Kew Gardens’ Easter Festival. In autumn 2017, Dulwich Picture Gallery will present the first major UK exhibition of work by Tove Jansson – including not only Moomin drawings but also Jansson’s surrealist-inspired paintings of the 1930s and abstract works of the ‘60s, her satirical anti-war cartoons and book jacket designs – and the Moomins will feature prominently at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival.A diverse range of quality Moomin products are available in the UK, from new Collectors’ Editions of the original Moomin stories (published by Sort of Books) and a guide to the Moomins, The World of Moominvalley (published by Macmillan Children’s Books), to 100% cashmere sweaters and other accessories from fashion label Chinti and Parker.

Moomin around the world

In June 2017 the world’s first Moomin Museum opened in Tampere, Finland, presenting 300 of Tove Jansson’s drawings and paintings and 30 Moomin tableaux created by Tove’s partner, the artist Tuulikki Pietilä. Later in the year, a 12-month Moomin exhibition will begin touring major cities in South Korea, and a new Moomin theme park is soon to open in Tokyo.