The Great North

Plot

Beef Tobin is a single father living in the fictional town of Lone Moose, Alaska with his four children Wolf, Ham, Judy, and Moon, as well as Wolf's wife Honeybee. Beef's life is centered on raising his children and keeping the family together. He is sometimes overbearing and smothering, but his deep love for his family is a central theme in each episode in the series.

Voice cast

Main

Nick Offerman as Beef Tenderloin Tobin, a fisherman and divorced father of four. Beef is still coming to terms with being abandoned by his ex-wife Kathleen. He spent years pretending that she died tragically, despite all of the Tobin children knowing the truth. He is a supportive father who encourages his children to love and respect others, although he sometimes struggles with the many changes happening in their lives and worries that they will grow apart.

Jenny Slate as Judy Tobin, an artistically inclined sixteen-year-old and Beef's only daughter. Judy loves her family, sharing a deep bond with her "Alaskan twin" brother Ham (they are not actual twins, but were born 9 months apart). She dreams of exploring the world beyond their small, remote hometown. In the season 5 episode "Jude-Night Run Adventure", her middle name is revealed to be "Trudy".

Will Forte as Wolf Tobin, Beef's oldest son and Honeybee's husband. A sensitive and optimistic young man, Wolf longs to make his father proud, although his eagerness often puts him beyond his depth. In the season 5 episode "Bots on the Side Adventure", Wolf says his middle name is "Giggles", which is revealed to be Beef's default choice for anything he has to name.

Dulcé Sloan as Honeybee Shaw-Tobin, Wolf's wife. Confident and adventurous, she moved from her hometown of Fresno after falling in love with Wolf, and is now adapting to life in a small Alaskan fishing town.

Paul Rust as Ham Tobin, Beef's middle son. Ham is openly gay, which his family embraces. He shares a deep bond with his "Alaskan twin" sister Judy, and they often collaborate on creative endeavors. He enjoys baking, and secretly becomes the town's "cake lady" after the previous one was arrested. He is the lead singer of Messengers of Chaos, Lone Moose's first punk band. In the season 3 episode "Boy Meats World Adventure", Ham's middle name is revealed to be "Piercebrosnan".

Aparna Nancherla as Moon Tobin, Beef's youngest son, who shares Beef's stoic demeanor and passion for outdoorsmanship. Despite being only 10 years old, Moon is unafraid of the intimidating Alaskan wildlife, and is often seen building traps for various animals (from ruffed grouse to Bigfoot) or exploring the wilderness around the family home. Moon wears a bear-like onesie almost all the time, even to school. In the season 5 episode "Bust a Moon Adventure", his full first name is revealed to be "Moonathan".

Recurring

Kevin Avery as Jarvis Dufraine, the manager of the Lone Moose Mall.

Tim Bagley as Dwayne Gibbons, the principal of Lone Moose School.

Sarah Baker as Police Chief Edna, the chief of police in Lone Moose, who also owns the town boatyard and a sticker store.

Paget Brewster as Mary Anderson, a teacher at Lone Moose School who is dating Mr. Golovkin.

Nicole Byer as Coach Kiely, a gym teacher at Lone Moose School who also leads a support group for children of divorced parents.

Wyatt Cenac as Ted Folly IV, the mayor of the nearby town of Ted's Folly.

Sean Clements as John Johnson, editor of the town's newspaper, the Lone Moose Wind.

Michael Coleman as Jim Tuntley, the father of Moon's friend Henry and husband of Dorothy Tuntley.

Eugene Cordero as Craig Ptarmigan, a materialistic fisherman in Lone Moose. He is antagonistic toward Beef, his former best friend, after Beef made a joke at Craig's expense at a party when they were 18, preventing Craig from asking out Beef's eventual ex-wife Kathleen.

Andy Daly as Cheesecake, Wolf's long-time best friend, whose polite, cheerful and mild-mannered behaviour belies his hard-partying lifestyle and extreme alcoholism; and Pete, the chipper but naive cashier at the Val-U-Buy.

Gabe Delahaye as Old Jody Jr., a sketchy, raspy-voiced resident of Lone Moose who claims to be able to get anything for anyone.

Rob Delaney as Brian Tobin, Beef's elder brother. Brian moved to Anchorage and works as a hot-tub and jacuzzi salesman. He has a daughter, Becca, about the same age as Ham and Judy.

Production

Development

On September 28, 2018, it was first announced that the series was in development, from creators Wendy and Lizzie Molyneux and Minty Lewis, with Loren Bouchard also set to executive produce. The series was officially given a series order by Fox on May 9, 2019, with Fox Entertainment producing, Bento Box Entertainment animating and 20th Television distributing. The underlying rights to the show are jointly held between Fox Corporation and 20th Television, which used to be under the same corporate umbrella as the rest of Fox before being sold to Disney in March 2019.

On May 13, 2019, it was announced that the series was set to premiere in 2020, but on May 11, 2020, this was revised to a premiere mid-season the 2020–21 television season. Later, a February 2021 premiere was announced. On June 22, 2020, Fox renewed the series for a second season ahead of its premiere.

On December 18, 2020, it was confirmed that the series would premiere on February 14, 2021, as part of Fox's Animation Domination programming block. On December 22, 2020, a special preview on January 3, 2021, was announced. On May 17, 2021, the day after the first-season finale was broadcast, Fox renewed the series for a third season. The second season premiered on September 26, 2021. The third season premiered on September 25, 2022. A fourth season has also been picked up. The fourth season premiered on January 7, 2024. On January 27, 2024, co-creator Wendy Molyneux announced that a fifth season was ordered.

On October 3, 2025, Fox canceled the series after five seasons, to make room for the return of American Dad! to the network.

Casting

On September 28, 2018, when the series was first announced, a cast of Nick Offerman, Jenny Slate, Megan Mullally, Paul Rust, Aparna Nancherla, Will Forte, and Dulcé Sloan was presented. On June 22, 2020, it was stated that Alanis Morissette would voice herself in the series.

Broadcast

In Canada, the series aired on Citytv for its first season, and its last two seasons. Since 2024, CHCH and Citytv share its broadcast rights due to scheduling issues.

The show is available to stream on Hulu in the United States, and for purchase on all major digital stores. In India, the series is simulcasted on Disney+ Hotstar because of 20th Television's output deal with Star India.

The show is available to stream on Disney+ via the Star content hub in selected territories and Star+ in Latin America.

In Denmark, the show initially premiered exclusively on Xee on July 9, 2021. The show was later added to Disney+ on March 9, 2022, with the first season and the first three episodes from the second season included.

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the series' first season holds an approval rating of 100% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "As cozy as a night spent relaxing by the fireplace with your favorite funny people, The Great North is a delightfully hilarious addition to Fox's Animation Domination lineup." On Metacritic (which uses a weighted average), the season has a score of 77 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised the performances of the actors and complimented the humor of the series, comparing it to Bob's Burgers, while noting that the series made token references to Indigenous representation and said it should embrace those more in future episodes, writing, "Then again, with memorable characters (captured in that familiar Bento Box Entertainment style), running credit gags and catchy episode-closing songs, I don't think Bob's Burgers as reimagined by somebody who just watched Northern Exposure would be such a bad thing anyway." Margaret Lyons of The New York Times praised the humor of the show, saying the series recalls Bob's Burgers and seems to act as a spin-off, writing, "This new comedy by some of the folks from Bob's Burgers isn't technically a spinoff, but it might as well be — in a good way! [...] like many comedies, it gets funnier as it goes along, but it has a silly sweetness from the start."

Joyce Slaton of Common Sense Media rated the series 4 out of 5 stars, praised the depiction of positive messages and role models, calling some of the characters lovable, supportive, and tolerant, and complimented the humor and the diversity of the cast, writing, "There's a strong streak of sweetness in this comedy, particularly in the way that family love is strong and central. The show clearly has a love for oddballs, and the humor is gentle and non-mocking." Ben Travers of IndieWire gave the series a B+ grade, called The Great North a "worthy successor to Bob's Burgers", stating the series manages to keep its own identity even across its similarities with Bob's Burgers, praised the animation of the show for its color palette, while noting The Great North is the only animated Fox comedy with a black family member, saying, "After decades spent churning out Simpsons clones, Fox is finally building off its other, nicer, animated sitcom — with encouraging results."

Accolades

The Great North was nominated for Best Animated Series for the 2021 Critics' Choice Awards. It was nominated for Tweens/Teens Programming – Best Animated Series at the 2024 Kidscreen Awards.