'7 Bears': Creative Team Walks Through Netflix Animated Series at Annecy 2025

Janine Weigold (former Kids and Family Production Development executive, Netflix EMEA, who shepherded the project) introduced the 7 Bears as “funny, quirky and tender”, arriving in a very crowded place for bears in animation (including Paddington). The show, based on the series of books Les Contes Palpitants des 7 Ours Nains by Émile Bravo, gives a “new, fresh take” on the classic fairy tale and unites “multi-layered humour” and characters “as endearing as they can be insufferable sometimes”. Here’s what we learned about the new show courtesy of a presentation at Annecy Film Festival 2025.

Guillaume Rio, the director, said that even though the team absolutely loved the original books, they had “a little darkness to them” that had to be toned down, with grumpy bears that may not be the best entry point for a family audience. Over the course of the production, which took 4 years, they changed the point of view through the eyes of slightly older bears and propelled them into a fairy tale world, where they discovered the mythology step by step, along with the audience. According to the producers, the choice of 3D animation made the bears a little more kid-friendly and relatable to the audience.

Picture: Kasey Moore / What’s on Netflix

The showrunner, Robert Vargas, explained that once they nailed the tone and characters, they sought a way to make it both funny and entertaining. So they based them a little bit on agitated, gauche furry creatures like Ewoks, in order to introduce slapstick jokes. Guillaume Rio added that the showrunner infused a sense of optimism and joy into the characters. They are also very tight and collective-thinking, and Vargas joked that “the 7 Bears all progress as one, with one brain for all”.

Vargas paid homage to the late Reid Harrison (The Simpsons), who was the head writer, as production continued and Folivari finished designing the creatures. Harrison passed away in 2024, and according to Vargas, his influence, sharp wit, and legacy in animated comedy left a lasting mark on the show’s tone and structure. Early on, they had an idea that the bears were being attacked by Puss in Boots, and they wondered why that was, eventually building a structure around it.

As the writers went on, they realized that the seven bears asked pointed questions about fairy tale characters and that they had accepted fairy tale elements “that were a little weird”. Vargas insisted that “the beauty of this show is that it is created by humans, with each collaborator adding their spice in the mix”. The frenzied process allowed the team to refine every aspect of the story and wonder whether the jokes and plots would be understood by the audience as they went along, up until animatics (one of the final processes before rendering an animation sequence). Vargas described the writing process starting with the character’s motivations and their goals in life, then asking themselves what he/she would do in the situation they devised. For example, they wondered what would happen if a prince didn’t want to marry a princess at the end of his life, and as such, the trajectory of the fairy tale characters is very different in the show than in the legend.

Some of the more zany ideas originated from storyboards, where a bear could celebrate something by scratching its butt against a tree, which went on to do scenes dubbed the “Butt Scratch Circle” for the 7 Bears.

The animation team for the series used 3D rendering and brightly lit backgrounds to set the tone for the series and allow the audience to immerse themselves better in the universe. It also delved into the enchantment of the fairy tale worlds 7 Bears is building upon, which was a “true creative liberation” for its style, with more colorful elements and rays. It also changed the background of the witch, which was made to be more sympathetic and less scary, while based on most of the designs by the author of the books, Émile Bravo. The music for the show was done by the duo Le Feste Antonacci, and “every music cue we received was like Christmas for us”, according to Guillaume Rio.

Audiences were treated to a preview of one of the episodes of the new limited series, scheduled to arrive on July 10th, 2025. The episode saw Snow White mistaken for Cinderella when the handsome Prince comes trying to find the owner of a glass slipper, while the bears acquire some boots that grant them super speed.

Audiences were also treated to a live demo from actress and voice actress for 7 Bears, Tiffany Hofstetter, who provides the voices for the bears in both French and English. “It was a great honor. I fell in love with this series,” the voice actress said, going on to say, “They are identical bears. But each bear has a different personality depending on the episode and the situation. We found that together.”