YouTube’s biggest creator just dropped serious money on cartoons. Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, says he sank about $7 million into the revamped second season of his animated series MrBeast Lab (also called Beast Labs). In an October 30 behind-the-scenes video, he explained that he recruited 250 artists from 16 countries who produced more than 140,000 hand-drawn frames.
Donaldson created the toy line, MrBeast Lab, for his YouTube channel through collaboration with Moose Toys. In 2025, the crew produced a series of shorts with millions of views but was criticized for poor storytelling, character development, and lack of emotion. Donaldson took criticism to heart. The producer reworked the project with the help of professional television screenwriters, bigger animation crew, and voice actors.
Studio Moshi handles the animation. Beast Industries and Moose Toys produce. Showrunners Ben Bjelajac and Michael Cruz lead the creative team. Writers include Jameel Saleem, whose credits include South Park and Bob’s Burgers, along with others who have worked on similar series. The new batch runs eight episodes totaling more than 100 minutes and began rolling out free on the Beast Animations YouTube channel on November 1, 2026.
The show tells the story of Beasts, which consist of humans with animalistic features and are fueled by the energy of creativity, called Pandemonium. Beasts protect Earth from interdimensional shadow beings known as the Shroud. Panthar, a blue panther-like fighter, and Banana, who died in previous shorts, are among the major characters in the show. In the new episodes, the lab is destroyed and the crew tracks the signal to find Banana alive. The scenes expand into desert and cityscapes as well as action-packed moments. One of the episodes has been described by Donaldson as “basically a Mad Max movie.”
Voice work includes Fred Tatasciore, long known for voicing Marvel’s Hulk. Streamers Valkyrae and Sketch appear in the first episode, alongside members of MrBeast’s own crew. Other performers bring experience from Star Wars and anime projects. Those prior credits belong to the individual actors. They do not mean Marvel or Lucasfilm produced or endorsed the series.
The real issue is if a YouTube sensation can leverage their huge online fame and a $5 million gamble on hand-drawn cartooning to build a brand. The original cartoons proved there was an audience for the idea. The new series is designed to prove that with better writing, more depth in the characters, and increased production quality, the problems will be solved. The episodes are available for free viewing on YouTube right now.
