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Nicolas Deveaux’s whimsical animated series Athleticus has been featuring animals competing in athletic races since it was introduced in 2018. Produced by France’s Arte and Cube Creative and distributed worldwide by Xilam, the fourth season of the show has a special tie-in with the 2024 Summer Olympics, which will take place in Paris this summer.
“The series is an extension of the work I did for my short films 7 tonnes 2, which was about the training of an elephant on a trampoline, and 5 meters 80, which centered on a herd of diving giraffes,” Deveaux explains in a pre-Annecy interview. “Early on, my producer, Lionel Fages, wanted to turn these concepts into a series. I was hesitant at first as I knew the budgets involved for series and the costs of animating a realistic animal, but the idea persisted and I continued to enrich my menagerie year after year.”
‘I hope the series can help us empathize with wild animals and perhaps even inspire us to consider and respect the living world a little more. After all, we’re all just animals!’
— Creator Nicolas Deveaux
Once he realized that the animals could be treated as the protagonists of a series, he proposed Athleticus to Arte. “The theme of sports was already present in my short films, particularly the art of movement, and it was perfect for opening up a world of different activities for my animals,” he adds. “The universal and rich nature of the sports world is a significant asset in making this series successful.”
Deveaux says he is thrilled with the show’s connection to the Summer Games in Paris. “Athleticus is perfectly positioned to be a part of it!” he notes. “Season 4 is focused on watersports and vacations: It was delivered last summer, but Arte has held its release back to specially coincide with the Olympics. Our partner Xilam Animation holds distribution rights to the series [four seasons, a total of 120 episodes] and has also previously secured deals with leading pay and free TV broadcasters.”
One of the biggest challenges for the show creator was to get the audience to believe that the show’s animals are real. “We’re committed to achieving this at every stage, right up to the sound work, as it would just take a small misstep to break the tacit contract with the viewer,” he explains. “Another challenge was including watersports in the new season — depicting waters is a demanding and costly exercise for a realistic series. However, it was also an exhilarating challenge, and the results are superb.”

Deveaux mentions that Athleticus offered him the chance to explore various themes and visuals. “Each episode is very unique. Across all four seasons, we’ve created 120 shorts of 2’15” with Cube. I’ve enjoyed being able to steer the project toward fables that are centered around sports, of course, but also highlighting what’s happening on sidelines and the social spaces. In the fourth season, my co-writer Gregory Barnes and I had a lot of fun weaving vacation themes into the storylines. We also had the great opportunity to produce everything in Paris together, which is a luxury that is reflected in the quality of the images for sure.”
The animation for the series was produced at Cube in Paris. The production switched software for the fourth season, moving from 3ds Max to Blender. The water effects for the fourth season were produced using Houdini, with compositing via Nuke.
“I hope audiences appreciate the show’s humor and certain form of poetry — and that in some way, they can identify with the ostrich, the turtle or the elephant,” says Deveaux. “I also hope the series can help us empathize with wild animals and perhaps even inspire us to consider and respect the living world a little more. After all, we’re all just animals!”
The fourth season of Athleticus premiered on June 10 on French channel Arte.