By A top-secret episode of Emmy-winning Australian cartoon “Bluey,” hidden from TV listings and streaming services the world over, has suddenly premiered in the past few hours.
ABC Australia, which broadcasts the series, falsely listed a rerun of a past “Bluey” episode in TV guides only for the new episode titled “The Surprise” to premiere on Sunday morning Australian time.
It was simultaneously broadcast in the UK on CBeebies having been billed as a show called “Something Special”. In addition, Disney+ has announced that the brand-new episode will premiere on Sunday, April 21st at 12am US-PT in the United States.
The episode sees Bluey and her sister Bingo make their dad play two different games with them at the same time.
The surprise release follows last week’s “The Sign,” a special episode that quadrupled the length of a standard episode and was seen as the last episode before the creators take a break from production after having churned out 153 episodes over seven years and three seasons.
Indeed the special’s plot, which involved the Heeler family putting their house up for sale, caused concern among parents and media the show might be ending. A clever bit of tie-in marketing saw the Heeler home listed for sale in the real estate pages of newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Bluey” producer Sam Moor has subsequently assured viewers via BBC’s Today that the show would definitely be returning:
“No, it is not the end for Bluey. I’m sure we have many more surprises in store for you. We have more in store and we are thinking what would be next.”
Show creator, Joe Brumm, was asked by The Guardian if this longer special episode was to pave the way for a potential “Bluey” movie some day. He says:
“I love the idea of doing something even longer, so we’ll see how this goes down. Maybe a movie, who knows? This is a good way to test the waters.”
The series was streamed for more than 20 billion minutes on Disney+ in the US last year, accounting for nearly one-third of all TV views on the streamer and the second most watched TV series on all streaming in U.S. in 2023.
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