REVIEW: ‘Among Us’ Is Worth Its Time On The Small Screen

Among Us wasn’t just a pandemic phenomenon. Instead of ending when we all got back to seeing people in person, the games we played kind of fell to the wayside. But where Fall Guys disappeared, replaced with new simple friend-based games, Innersloth’s Among Us stayed. More than that, it’s evolved, using its success to help fund other indie titles and take over the entertainment space, and now we have an Among Us TV show. 

From announcing the new single-player version of the game, Among Us Story: On Guard, during Summer Game Fest this year, to numerous collaborations since the game’s release in 2018 that range from Fortnite and Markiplier to BTS’s BT21 merch line, the little astronauts are everywhere. So it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise when the Among Us TV Show was stealthily announced in June 2026. 

At the same time, I couldn’t help but find myself prematurely frustrated by its existence. In a time when it is so hard to get things made, why did Paramount+ decide to greenlight the Among Us TV show? What about it could warrant being made when the game’s content is really dependent on the people playing it? Then, I pressed play on the  Among Us TV show, and I ate crow.

The Among Us TV show is surprisingly good, fully embracing the chaos of its source material.

Created by Owen Dennis, the series is star-studded to say the least, with each character simply named after the color of their suit. Decked out with recognizable, customizable options from the game to help paint their personalities. 

The series stars Ashley Johnson as Purple, Randall Park as Red, Elijah Wood as Green, Liv Hewson as Black, the iconic Phil LaMarr as Brown, Debra Wilson as Yellow, Kimiko Glenn as Cyan, Yvette Nicole Brown as Orange, Wayne Knight as Lime, Dan Stevens as Blue, and Patton Oswalt as White. You might be asking why I spent valuable words on naming every person in this cast. Well, it’s because it’s important to know who is playing the game. 

Among Us’s success is due to how hard the game embraces the chaotic origins of playing with friends, lying to each other, and, well, pushing bonds until they get close to breaking. Thanks to the comedic strength of the actors involved, this Paramount+ Original manages to do the most with a little, which is the Innersloth way to begin with. More importantly, the series’ episodes are only 13 minutes long, working perfectly to keep the pace of the series without becoming too repetitive.

The short runtime helps with pacing while keeping things from getting too repetitive.

The characters play well together, with Park’s Red and Wood’s Green stealing the show, while Black has my absolute alt-girl heart. The banter works whether they are working on game mechanics in the moment or being absolute menaces to each other. The cast sells this series as much as the IP does, primarily because their chemistry plays exactly like you and your friends doing the same, even with its lore and built-out world. 

In the Among Us TV show, a crew discovers that an alien shapeshifter has infiltrated their ranks, aiming to sow chaos, sabotage the spaceship, and eliminate everyone onboard. After chaos begins, the crew tries to find the “Imposter” and avoid the creative ways the alien keeps coming up with to kill every single one of them. 

The premise itself embraces its origin, with Emergency Meetings, false accusations, and a whole lot of murder. Each of the characters has their own relationships that the audience has to track as they evolve. As accusations fly across the crew, the humor and melodrama make it easy to guess along with the crew and find characters to back. And when they get it wrong, it’s just as funny as when the next crewmate gets it. 

The embrace of blood and gore makes the Among Us TV show better suited to older audiences.

An animated series, the Among Us TV show doesn’t shy away from gore and bloody bits, making it the perfect adult animation. While this targets Innersloth’s larger audience of millennials who bonded over the game during COVID-19, it’s not exactly recognizable to younger audiences as something too adult. But that’s for parents to worry about, not Paramount.

Ultimately, Among Us does the most with its 10 episodes, regardless of how short they are. At 13 minutes a piece, the comedy never overstays its welcome and always finds a way to capitalize on the last episode as it heads into the next one. Hilarious and just a great time, the Among Us TV show turns out to be a much-needed spark of joy when I thought it would be no more than a money grab. 

Among Us is available now, exclusively on Paramount+.