Back to the pumps: Canadian sitcom smash 'Corner Gas' gets animated reboot

An animated version of Brent Butt is seen in this still from the upcoming Corner Gas animated series. The Canadian sitcom hit is being rebooted into an all-new animated version to be broadcast on The Comedy Network. (HO-The Comedy Network/The Canadian Press)

TORONTO -- Prior to pursuing a successful career in comedy, "Corner Gas" creator and star Brent Butt had designs on a career in animation.

But after Butt was accepted into the animation program at Ontario's Sheridan College, he opted instead to forge forward with his dream of stand-up stardom.

"That went well and that took off, so I never kind of revisited animation -- but it's always been a love of mine and an interest of mine," Butt said in a phone interview from Vancouver on Monday.

"In school, I would do animated cartoons in the pages of my textbook; so you'd do a little flipbook and you'd have Spider-Man swinging by."

Butt is now combining his dual passions for comedy and illustration by rebooting "Corner Gas" as an animated series.

The award-winning show was the No. 1 sitcom in Canada throughout its entire six-season run, which ended in 2009. The cast reunited for "Corner Gas: The Movie," which was released in 2014.

Butt had a hand in the initial design of the illustrated characters, and said the idea of creating an animated version of the series had been "kicking around" for quite a while.

"Myself and my partners all thought if we were going to do this again there would have to be a reason to do it, and that would be to do it differently," said Butt. "We always talked about the idea of an animated version would be fun and we started exploring that."

The main cast of the original series, set in the fictional community of Dog River, Sask., will be lending their voices to the cartoon iteration of the show. Joining Butt are "Corner Gas" co-stars Gabrielle Miller (Lacey), Eric Peterson (Oscar), Fred Ewanuick (Hank), Lorne Cardinal (Davis), Tara Spencer-Nairn (Karen), and Nancy Robertson (Wanda).

Co-star Janet Wright died last month, but her portrayal of the long-suffering matriarch Emma Leroy will live on in the new animated series, with the blessing of her family. Casting for her character's voice is currently underway.

The animation will be produced entirely in Canada. Butt said the voiceover recording will be divided between Vancouver and Toronto where the actors live, and they will be patched in together to be able to hear each other.

"One of the things that I think made 'Corner Gas' work was this amazing cast of actors that we found, and the chemistry that they had, and the way that they were able to react and interact with each other," said Butt.

"We wanted to make sure that we put them in a situation where they could be acting with each other in real time, because that's where that magic is."

The storylines will be entirely new, but "Corner Gas" will be going back to the first two seasons in terms of the show's chronology, said Butt.

He also expressed excitement about the new ways in which they'll be able to push the creative boundaries of the series in animated form. He said an upcoming script will involve a sewer explosion with Wanda flying up in the air.

"Even in the live-action (series), we built in these fantasy sequences where anything we could imagine we could make happen. It's just that we were limited by physics in real life -- and now we're not."

The 13-episode, half-hour series will debut on The Comedy Network during the 2017-18 season.