The ‘Among Us’ TV show is better than it has any right to be

The only thing more surprising than Paramount+’s sudden release of the Among Us TV show is how much I enjoyed it.

Look, it’s 2026. That means it’s been six years since Among Us‘ peak popularity, when everyone from Twitch streamer Pokimane to U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez locked in on sniffing out who was truly sus. By the time CBS Studios announced it was developing an Among Us show in 2023, the game’s viral popularity had already faded. The move to TV seemed like a bizarre attempt to milk a somewhat dated IP.

However, there were some bright spots during Among Us‘ development phase that hinted that it wouldn’t be a lazy cash grab. First was the announcement of its creator Owen Dennis, the mind behind Cartoon Network’s endlessly inventive (and gone too soon) Infinity Train. Then came the reveal of the voice cast, stacked with big names like Elijah Wood, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Randall Park. Even as the years-long wait between the show’s announcement and its eventual release stretched on and on, I wondered, did these tidbits of information mean there was a chance an Among Us show could actually be… good?

The answer, thankfully, turns out to be yes! Among Us is a ridiculously fun adaptation of the game, complete with enough Easter eggs to satisfy the most diehard fans, as well as a surprising sharpness.

How does Among Us adapt the game to TV?

Among Us takes the basic premise of the game — a spaceship crew hunts down the parasitic alien Impostor among them — and fleshes it out. Now, the monochromatic astronauts players inhabit have clear personalities and roles within their crew. Red (voiced by Park) is The Skeld‘s incompetent captain, Orange (voiced by Brown) is an overly enthusiastic HR rep, and Green (voiced by Wood) is the crew’s eager unpaid intern.

Other Crewmates (and suspects) include nepo baby White (voiced by Patton Oswalt), hippy gemologist Cyan (voiced by Kimiko Glenn), cynical geologist Black (voiced by Liv Hewson), sketchy security guard Purple (voiced by Ashley Johnson), conspiracy theorist Lime (voiced by Wayne Knight), sexy ship doctor Blue (voiced by Dan Stevens), and The Skeld‘s cooks — and sole union members — Brown (voiced by Phil LaMarr) and Yellow (voiced by Debra Wilson).

Among Us plays up these archetypes in ridiculous fashion, jamming as many laughs into each 15-minute episode. Sight gags abound too, with Dennis playing with the Crewmates’ appearances, from their one big bone to their ever-present backpacks. (What happens when they take them off? The show gives a fittingly silly answer.)

Amid the laughs, Among Us emphasizes that the show’s villain isn’t just the Impostor. (Or Impostors.) It’s also corporate greed, present here in the form of MIRA, the mining company behind this mission. Bearing shades of the Alien franchise’s malevolent Weyland-Yutani, MIRA looms over the crew thanks to Orange’s cloying company loyalty, which Dennis counters with Yellow’s pro-labor screeds. Among Us is the one of the last places I’d expect to see such staunch anti-corporate messaging, but chalk that up as one of the show’s many welcome surprises.

Among Us gets delightfully weird.

Some of these other surprises come from how Among Us chooses to engage with the visual language of the game. For example, when Crewmates move from room to room in the ship, the show mimics the game’s camera style and the characters’ 2D walks, a choice that both delighted me and catapulted me back to playing Among Us with my friends in 2020. Elsewhere, Dennis nods to everything from the game’s specific tasks to its voting mechanics.

But some of Among Us‘ best moments have less to do with the game itself, and more to do with just getting weird with it. Perhaps the best example is the Impostor alien itself. When it first unveils its true self, it unleashes some unsettling body horror that takes Among Us‘ classic eye stab kill animation to new heights. Just like the rest of the show, it’s a bizarre, welcome surprise.

All 10 episodes of Among Us are now streaming on Paramount+.