Canada’s Mainframe Studios Unveils First Look At New CG Franchise ‘The Immortals & The Shadow Realm’

Canada’s Mainframe Studios has revealed the first teaser for The Immortals & The Shadow Realm, an original CG-animated franchise created by studio president and CCO Michael Hefferon.

Known for its work on titles ranging from ReBoot to Unicorn Academy, the studio is positioning the project as a bold aesthetic shift, mixing K-pop–style action, anime influences, and painterly visuals reminiscent of Arcane.

Developed using the real-time capabilities of Unreal Engine, the teaser showcases dynamic camerawork and a hand-painted look rendered live, signaling a new technical direction for the studio.

According to Hefferon:

We’ve always believed in reinventing ourselves as storytellers and as a studio. With The Immortals & The Shadow Realm Teaser, we pushed ourselves to explore new tools, new visual languages, and entirely new ways of building worlds. The result is a project that will not only expand our capabilities but redefine the next era of Mainframe.

Blending high concept sci-fi/fantasy with YA-leaning drama, the series follows newly chosen Immortal siblings Kouto and Daeji as they race to recover the shattered shards of the Prism before the Dark One engulfs both Earth and the Shadow Realm. Joined by a mysterious half-brother, the trio must overcome distrust while battling shadow creatures tied to an ancient prophecy.

Mainframe plans to expand the franchise beyond the screen into graphic novels and video games. The teaser is available now on YouTube.