Nickelodeon has picked up Toronto-based prodco Nelvana’s new 26 x 22-minute animated series Ollie’s Pack. The 2D-animated series tracks a trio of friends (along with an otherworldly backpack) who embark on adventures, meeting different monsters every episode.

The comedy-adventure will launch first in the US on April 6, before rolling out internationally on its channels in more than 170 countries and territories later this year. Nick has already released an episode on the Nick app and VOD service Nick On Demand last week, and will release it on YouTube April 4.

Created by Pedro Eboli (Cupcake & Dino) and Graham Peterson (Rick & Morty), Ollie’s Pack began as an original short dubbed Monster Pack for Nickelodeon’s 2013 Animated Shorts Program.

Nick has been turning to animated shorts as a source of new content recently. In January 2020 it premiered the 2D-animated comedy series It’s Pony (20 x 22 minutes), which was submitted in Nick’s 2015 International Animated Shorts. In June 2019, it launched the Intergalactic Shorts Program, which aims to drive new comedies for six to 11s that could be turned into long-form programming. It’s now producing the live-action original TV movie The Loud House: A Very Loud Christmas!, which is a spinoff of the animated series that also began as an animated short in its 2013 program.