Duo the owl has twerked on main, flash mobbed a Charli XCX concert, died, sent his ashes to Dua Lipa, and come back to life. His next big act? Starring in his own animated show. 

Duo TV is a new animated series that was created entirely by Duolingo’s in-house design studio. The six-episode series stars in-app characters including Duo himself, the deadpan goth teen Lily, her best friend Zari, and a grumpy bear named Falstaff as they navigate working at a mysterious grocery store called DuoMart. The first two episodes, which will be published on Duolingo’s official YouTube channel and Instagram page, air on October 12, followed by a new daily episode until the finale. 

For Duolingo, the series is part of a broader mission to deepen the relationship between its fans and its characters. Duo and his motley crew first noticeably entered the zeitgeist during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the brand’s uniquely irreverent humor on social media helped it amass a major following. In the years since, the brand has continuously upped the ante on investing in its characters and design team to keep users coming back for more. 

“We tell everyone right from the get-go, we want to be a hundred-year business,” says Miguel Reyes, Duolingo’s head of design. The brand believes that kind of longevity will require more than just an Android and iOS app. Specifically, it’s betting that by building out an entire world around its characters through efforts like Duo TV —essentially, creating its own entertainment arm—it can set itself up for the next several decades of business growth.

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