Tom DeLonge Is Producing A New Animated Series 'Breaking Bear'

17 August 2022 | 11:44 am | Brenton Harris
Originally Appeared In

"Breaking Bear follows the escapades of three bear siblings who decide they have to start selling drugs in order to raise money and save their home after gas companies start fracking next to their cave. The bears soon enlist other forest animals in a scheme that will pit them against oil companies, the Russian mafia, local Hell’s Angels and polar bears who hate anything that isn’t white."

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Tom DeLonge is producing a new animated series for Tubi called Breaking Bear.

The Angels & Airwaves bandleader and former blink-182 frontman is lending his creative prowess to the project, which sounds to us like it is very much inspired by Breaking Bad. 

Described as a parody of mobster dramas, combining elements of Yogi Bear with The Sopranos a synopsis for Breaking Bear reads "Breaking Bear follows the escapades of three bear siblings who decide they have to start selling drugs in order to raise money and save their home after gas companies start fracking next to their cave. The bears soon enlist other forest animals in a scheme that will pit them against oil companies, the Russian mafia, local Hell’s Angels and polar bears who hate anything that isn’t white"

The series was greenlit by streaming service Tubi recently and is officially being produced by DeLonge under the umbrella of his To The Stars Media company.  DeLonge is collaborating with Julien Nitzberg (The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia) and Cartel Entertainment (Creepshow) on the series.

Tubi's chief of content, Adam Lewinson comments on the series “When The Cartel pitched a series with cartoon animals as mobsters, I knew it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. This is the perfect project to expand our adult animation offering after the stellar success of ‘The Freak Brothers,’ cementing Tubi as a destination for adult humour.” 

DeLonge shared the news of his production role via Instagram, captioning the post "@tothestars.media is excited to announce “Breaking Bear” animated series for @tubi — Executive produced by Tom DeLonge (Sekret Machines, Monsters of CA, Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker), Stan Spry (Creepshow, Day of the Dead), Jeff Holland (Creepshow, Day of the Dead), Bradford Bricken (Twelve Forever), and Eric Woods (Creepshow, Harland Manor). Nitzberg also serves as an executive producer and showrunner."

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While the news of Breaking Bear isn't quite the news that most blink-182 fans had been clamouring for, it is another example of how deep DeLonge's pop-cultural influence runs. 

In recent Tom DeLonge related news, Mark Hoppus has denied that a blink-182 reunion with Tom DeLonge is imminent. Speaking on his Discord, the blink-182 bass player/vocalist has stated that "there is no news to share. There is no announcement. Today is thirty years of blink-182!" Hoppus elaborated on this stance indicating that IF there is any blink-182 and Tom reunion news, the band will be making quite a lot of noise about it, and not cryptically teasing fans with old photos on social media.  

"If and when blink has any announcement about anything, you will hear it from the official blink-182 outlets. Not teased on a radio station like 'tune in for a major announcement…Tom tagged Mark in a photo from two decades ago.'

Hoppus also states that "blink-182 will tour again and when it's booked and confirmed we'll announce it."

The rebuttal from Hoppus is sure to crush fans and media outlets alike, who had both been buying into all the hype. 

That hype had become quite convincing, with a new Funko Pop! Vinyl set announced, Tom DeLonge shared an old press shot of blink-182, and updated his Instagram bio to say, “I make music (@blink182 and @angelsandairwaves).” 

Since DeLonge's departure from the band for a second time in 2015, blink-182 have released two full-length albums with Skiba, 2016's California and 2019's Nine. 

To date, DeLonge's last work with blink-182 was 2015's Neighborhoods, which received a mixed response from fans.