PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 25: Elijah Wood visits the IMDb Portrait Studio at Acura House of Energy on location at Sundance 2025 on January 25, 2025 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images for IMDb)

Getty Images for IMDb

Among Us, an animated series based on the smash hit game by the same name, is now streaming on Paramount+. The voice cast includes such actors as Elijah Wood as “Green” and Yvette Nicole Brown as “Orange”.

The Among Us game became a worldwide phenomenon, reaching nearly 500 million monthly active users at its height in 2020. The game generated more than 4 billion views on YouTube and over 1.22 billion viewing sessions on Twitch. In October 2020 alone, it ranked #1 on Google Play in 66 countries and #1 on iOS in 55 countries, with Top 100 placements in nearly every market worldwide.

The 10-episode series follows a group of peculiar crew mates of a ship transporting junk across the galaxy who must identify an impostor in their crew before they fall victim to their scheme.

Among Us stars Elijah Wood and Yvette Nicole Brown, who were both aware of the game’s popularity beforehand, recently told me how doing voiceover work is different to live action acting.

“I feel like learning to do voiceover is like riding a bike," Brown said. "I remember the first voiceover thing I ever booked was a video game, and they said that she had to be authoritative when you say this line. I said, ‘Well, I raised my eyebrow.’ I was like, ‘Oh.’ So it took me a minute to figure out that all the rubbery things I do on camera, it doesn’t translate, but once I figured out how to do it, once it clicks, it stays with you forever.”

Wood noted that some voiceover work may involve physicality, similar to on-camera jobs.

“I think also, given what your character might be experiencing, you might have to move your body to give your voice a sense that you’re moving, depending on what it is that your character is going through," he stated. "So, it doesn't lack physicality, it can very much incorporate it, just depends on what the scenario is.”

Brown was wonderfully cast, with Orange being the head of HR, due to her perfection of conveying the can-do attitude and ultra positive tone.

“I was a legal secretary before I became an actor,” Brown shared. "A lot of time in offices and in corporate America, and so I’m very aware of the entire world. I didn't have to do any research."

With Brown’s most recognizable role to date being "Shirley Bennett" in the hit comedy series Community and Wood’s being Frodo Baggins in the Lord of The Rings film trilogy, despite having countless other roles in their careers, the actors don’t get tired of receiving praise from fans for the ones that put them on the map.

“I feel like, and I think I can speak for Elijah too, we’ve each done so much that you know anyone liking anything is really lovely, and whoever’s asking me about Community or telling me that they love Community, that’s their first time telling me,” Brown said. “Doesn’t matter how many times I’ve heard it, that’s their first time talking to me, and I want to show up for them and give them the moment that they want and that they deserve as a fan of this of what I did. So I always show up and I have the conversation, no matter how many times it comes my way.”

“That’s such a great way to articulate it, because you’re right, it’s like they don’t know, they have no experience of the however many times you’ve heard. It’s their moment, it’s their moment with you, honor that moment. And I think you know we’re also lucky enough to have been a part of things that resonate with people that are lasting, and what a gift that is.”

Like with all their previous projects, once the work is completed, it’s up to the audience to absorb the work and make of it what they will.

“I think you always hope people love it, you know, you hope that you’ve done something that they enjoy,” Brown said. "But I remember when Lost, the show Lost was on with that finale, a lot of people liked it, a lot of people hated it, and I feel like you just have to let the creators do what they do and take the ride. So I do what I do, and then I let the viewers enjoy it, or not enjoy it, that’s their choice, they choose their own adventure. I want them to like it, but you just don’t really have any control, right?"

“I mean, I agree. I certainly want something that we’ve all spent time working on and pouring ourselves into that we’re proud of to be received well,” Wood said. “But at a certain point, you do, you have to let go. It’s that it’s out in the world, and it’ll either land with people or it won’t.”

Among Us was created by Owen Dennis, who also serves as executive producer alongside Forest Willard and Marcus Bromander, and Carl Neisser for Innersloth. Titmouse is the animation studio behind the project with executive producers Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio and Ben Kalina.