Was A Seinfeld Animated Spin-Off Ever In The Cards? Here's What We Know

There was a time in the 1990s where the NBC sitcom "Seinfeld" absolutely dominated the airwaves, and that meant there were plenty of opportunities for the show to expand. Despite seemingly being the "show about nothing," "Seinfeld" is one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, which has led some people to wonder why there hasn't been a "Seinfeld" movie or any official "Seinfeld" spin-offs. It turns out one almost happened. Back in 2010 in an interview with MovieWeb while promoting his animated feature "Bee Movie," Seinfeld was asked about a rumored "Seinfeld" animated series, which sounds kind of amazing. 

While Seinfeld unfortunately didn't have much to say about the potential animated series other than they "almost did it," it led us to wonder what a "Seinfeld" animated series might look like and why they didn't move forward with it. It's not likely that we'll get the animated spin-off now, decades after the fact, but then again, you can never say never. After all, cartoons don't age, and the actors could do their vocal performances from all around the world if need be, so if we ever were to see a "Seinfeld" revival, an animated series could be the way to go.

In the interview, Seinfeld is asked about the animated series and he says "We almost did it." When asked if there's any potential to do it in the future, he says, "It's been nine years, I think we're moving on." It's probably unlikely that he's changed his tune now and would want to return to the "Seinfeld" well (especially after what effectively became a "Seinfeld" reunion in season 7 of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), but a "Seinfeld" cartoon truly would have been something. The ridiculous adventures of Jerry (Seinfeld), his best friend George Costanza (Jason Alexander), his ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and his wacky neighbor Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards) could have been made even wilder through animation, as the format allows for all kinds of ideas that would be expensive or even impossible in live-action. 

One show that might give us a clue as to what "Seinfeld: The Animated Series" could have looked like is the tragically short-lived but ultimately fantastic "Clerks: The Animated Series," which took Kevin Smith's black-and-white indie film and turned it into a goofy (but fun!) animated series. Not only is it easier on the cast to do voice work only, but they would also potentially be able to hire guest stars that they couldn't afford in live-action. 

The closest thing we've gotten to a "Seinfeld" animated series, unfortunately, is the AI-generated "Seinfeld" clone "Nothing, Forever," which uses a computer-generated algorithm to create ongoing "Seinfeld" episodes in a crude 3-D digital style. Setting the ethics of AI aside, "Nothing, Forever" can be kind of amusing in a bizarre, trapped-in-a-Dire-Straits-music-video kind of way, but it's nothing like a real animated series created by people, with senses of humor. 

Oh well. At least we'll always have "Bee Movie."