The Teaser For 'Craig Before The Creek' Has Been Released
Before the end of an era, head to the before times with the latest Cartoon Network movie
The end of Craig of the Creek is near, so it’s time to go back to the beginning. Cartoon Network has released the teaser for Craig Before the Creek, the prequel film for their hit animated series as it barrels to a premature end.
Revealing Craig’s first adventure, the official synopsis reads “Craig Williams is the shy, new kid in town. Little does he know, he'll soon set off on the biggest adventure he could ever dream of: treasure maps, pirate ships, and a villain who wants to destroy the Creek.” Before he braved the wilderness, before he made friends, he found adventure. The teaser, strangely released on the WB Kids YouTube channel instead of Cartoon Network’s like on Facebook and Twitter sees young Craig suit up in his hoodie and start exploring as he meets the kids of the neighborhood, teaming with Kelsey and JP for the first time.
It was announced in January 2022 that WarnerMedia Kids and Family renewed Craig of the Creek, which was created by Matt Burnett and Ben Levin and premiered in 2018, for a fifth season. But that wasn’t all, as they had ordered the TV movie that became Craig Before the Creek but then just known as Craig of the Creek: The Movie, and the preschool-aimed spinoff series Jessica’s Little Big World for Cartoonito. WarnerMedia and Discovery merged to become Warner Bros. Discovery just a few months later that April. What ensued was an attack on scripted programming, especially for children and families. Whether it was removing programs from HBO Max, shelving movies, or forcing movies and series in development greenlit for the service and Cartoon Network to go elsewhere.
That October (still 2022), it was revealed on Twitter that the orders for both Craig and Jessica’s Little Big World had been halved. And this wasn’t a “we only have so much room on the schedule” sort of thing, like how NBC just trimmed Lopez vs. Lopez’s upcoming season from 13 to 10 episodes, because cable doesn’t have to worry about that. You’re not going to halve an order just to come back and renew a show giving those episodes “back”. It meant both shows were basically cancelled, even as the franchise was in absolute bloom beforehand. Being a black-centric series, it only added to the poor optics of many of new head David Zaslav’s decisions. By early December, the series finale was written. Season lengths for the show have been 40 11-minute episodes, which likely means season 5 is 20, and 10 have already aired, so it’s likely the series will end next year. Jessica’s Little Big World finally premiered last month, essentially as a lame duck.
Craig of the Creek stars Philip Solomon as Craig, Noël Wells as Kelsey Pokoly, and H. Michael Croner as J.P. Mercer, Phil LaMarr as older brother Bernard, Terry Crews as dad Duane, Kimberly Hébert Gregory as mom Nicole, and Phil Morris and Saundra McClain as grandparents Earl and Jojo. At least, these are the cast members expected to reprise for Before the Creek based on when the film seems to take place. Little sister Jessica, normally voiced by Lucia Cunningham, might too young and nonverbal to be in the same position. Craig Before the Creek is coming “soon”, and no specific date has been revealed. It is just a teaser after all.
