Common Side Effects


Common Side Effects is an American adult animated television series created by Joe Bennett and Steve Hely for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. It was produced by Bandera Entertainment, with key crew members of King of the Hill involved in production.
The pilot episode premiered privately at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2024 and publicly a month later at Adult Swim's San Diego Comic-Con panel. The series premiered on Adult Swim on February 2, 2025, and has an encore broadcast on the network's Toonami programming block. The series has been renewed for a second season.

Premise

Two high school friends, Marshall and Frances, reconnect after Marshall discovers the Blue Angel Mushroom, a mushroom with healing effects that appears to cure all illnesses and injuries. In the process, they also uncover a conspiracy involving Reutical Pharmaceuticals, Inc., one of the largest pharmaceutical companies, and the government, to suppress all knowledge of said mushroom.

Characters

Main

  • Marshall Cuso is the knowledgeable, cautious protagonist of the series and was friends with Frances in high school. He is an accomplished expert in fungi who has done charity work in foreign countries and is sly in run-ins with the DEA.
  • Frances Applewhite is Rick's executive assistant and Marshall's high school lab mate and friend. Though initially hesitant about the effects of the Blue Angel, she eventually sees the monetary value in the mushrooms and is motivated to try and get them to Rick to take care of her mother, who was recently diagnosed with dementia.
  • Agents Copano and Harrington are nonchalant best friends who work for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Kelly describes Harrington as "goofy but is very pragmatic about job.", while Anderson describes Copano as someone who is "big on conspiracy theories" and who likes to "connect dots when they probably should not be connected."
  • Rick Kruger is the incompetent chief executive officer of Reutical, who constantly bothers Frances to do mundane tasks for him, such as booking reservations and changing the TV channel. He also enjoys farming simulator video games, often playing in improper settings such as work and formal events.

    Recurring

  • Nick is Frances' lackadaisical, often oblivious boyfriend who loves VR gaming. Feldman also provides additional voices.
  • Jonas Backstein is a powerful Swiss financier and board member of Reutical with heavy insider ties to the federal government who is focused on destroying Marshall and the mushrooms.
  • Cecily is a Deputy National Security Director with influence over the DEA who secretly conspires with Jonas and Reutical.
  • Hildy is Marshall's idiosyncratic, mycologist mentor who seeks to possess the Blue Angel for her own ends.
  • Sonia Applewhite is Frances' mother who has been diagnosed with dementia, and is Frances' main motivation for acquiring the Blue Angel mushroom.
  • Amelia is the laid-back mycologist hired by the DEA to gather information on the Blue Angel, also acting as a single mother and caretaker to her ill son, Wyatt. Woodward also provides additional voices.
  • Kiki is a researcher at Reutical. Young and knowledgeable on medicine and the pharmaceutical system, she acts as the devil's advocate for the company, disputing the arguments brought up by people such as Marshall.
  • Zane is Marshall's veterinarian half-brother specializing in marine animals. He enjoys taking psychedelic drugs and illegally imports rare tropical animals.
  • Kenji is Copano and Harrington's boss at the DEA.
  • Jimmer Jarvis is the Sheriff of Averesboro, North Carolina who becomes Marshall's next-door neighbor and ally.
  • Rusty is Jimmer’s redneck nephew who spends most of his time shooting guns or riding his BMX bike.

    Additional / Guest voices

  • Shalita Grant as Female DEA Agent / Susan / Kelly
  • Bob Stephenson as Connor / Samurai
  • Timothy Simons as DEA Dispatcher / Lawyer / Test Subject 3
  • Andy Daly as Mysterious Passenger / Christopher
  • Nicolas Cantu as Tommy

    Broadcast history

The pilot episode premiered privately at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2024 and publicly a month later at Adult Swim's San Diego Comic-Con panel. The series premiered on Adult Swim on February 2, 2025, to critical acclaim. The series has an encore broadcast on the network's Toonami programming block that began on March 2, 2025. On March 28, 2025, it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season.

Episodes

Production

Development

Common Side Effects co-creators Joe Bennett and Steve Hely were brought together and began development of the series in 2019 under production studio Bandera Entertainment founded by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels. Bennett and Hely sought to combine the crime thriller genre with comedy, inspired by the films of the Coen brothers, such as Burn After Reading. Inspiration for the story came from the co-creators' interest in medicine and the work of mycologist Paul Stamets, ethnobotanists Richard Evan Schultes, Terence McKenna and Wade Davis, and the chemist Albert Hofmann. The character Marshall was in part inspired by Stamets and "The Orchid Thief" John Laroche as he was portrayed in the film Adaptation. Another inspiration was the story of R. Gordon Wasson publishing an article about psilocybin mushrooms and María Sabina in Life magazine and the dramatic consequences for the life of Maria Sabina once the article was published.

Animation

Animation for the series was produced by Green Street Pictures employing an international team of artists, including some working remotely from France, Portugal, Spain, and Mexico. Many of these artists worked on Scavengers Reign, a 2023 series also produced by Green Street and co-created by Bennett. Animation was produced in conjunction with Le Cube, a partner studio in Argentina. The series employs a distinct visual style with characters featuring oversized and undersized body proportions.

Release

The series was first announced in June 2023, at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The pilot episode premiered privately at the festival event the following year.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 8.7/10, based on 26 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "An addictive mix of expressive animation, heady concepts, and an offbeat sense of humor, Common Side Effects is a must-have prescription." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 80 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "Generally Favorable" reviews.

Accolades