The Amazing World of Gumball follows a 12-year-old blue cat and his goldfish brother through life in Elmore, a town where a banana, a cloud, a T-rex and a ghost can all be in the same class. Ben Bocquelet created it for Cartoon Network, and it was made at the network's studio in London. It premiered on May 3, 2011 and ran for six seasons until 2019.
The show's look was unusual from the start: Elmore is built from real photographs, and its residents are drawn, puppeteered, modelled and animated in completely different styles, sometimes all in one shot. Underneath that, it's a sharp family sitcom about a household that is chaotic but devoted. This guide covers the Wattersons, the students and staff of Elmore Junior High, the townsfolk, and the voice cast.
- Creator
- Ben Bocquelet
- Network
- Cartoon Network
- Premiere
- May 3, 2011
- Run
- 2011–2019, six seasons
- Setting
- Elmore, a fictional American town
- Style
- Mixed media: 2D, 3D, puppetry, stop-motion and live-action backgrounds
The Watterson family
The Wattersons live in a small house in Elmore and are, by the town's own standards, a bit of a disaster. Dad doesn't work, the boys cause havoc, and Mom holds it all together on willpower and caffeine. What makes them work is that they always end up defending each other.
Gumball Watterson
Blue cat · Age 12
Gumball is an overconfident, excitable kid whose terrible ideas drive almost every episode. He's quick, sarcastic and fond of shortcuts, and he talks himself into trouble faster than anyone in town. He's also deeply loyal and often kind when it counts. His crush on Penny Fitzgerald and his partnership with Darwin are the two steady threads through the series.
- Voice
- Logan Grove, Jacob Hopkins, Nicolas Cantu
Darwin Watterson
Goldfish · Gumball's adopted brother
Darwin was Gumball's pet goldfish until he grew legs and joined the family. He's sweet, trusting and easily led, which makes him the perfect partner for Gumball's schemes and the one most likely to feel bad about them afterwards. He's also more emotionally perceptive than his brother. The two of them are inseparable, and the show treats their friendship as the heart of the series.
- Voice
- Kwesi Boakye, Terrell Ransom Jr., Donielle T. Hansley Jr.
Anais Watterson
Pink rabbit · Age 4 · Genius
Anais is the youngest member of the family and by far the smartest. She's often the voice of reason when her brothers' plans spiral, though she's still young enough to be obsessed with her favourite toy, Daisy the Donkey. She wants her brothers to include her and her parents to notice how capable she is, and she's frequently frustrated on both counts.
- Voice
- Kyla Rae Kowalewski
Nicole Watterson
Blue cat · Mom
Nicole works long hours at the Rainbow Factory and is the only adult in the house who gets anything done. She's fiercely protective and has a frightening temper, which the show turns into action sequences when someone threatens her kids. Several episodes look back at her intense, overachieving childhood and how she ended up with Richard, and they're some of the show's most touching.
- Voice
- Teresa Gallagher
Richard Watterson
Pink rabbit · Dad
Richard is a large, lazy, childlike father who has never held a job for long and spends most of his time eating or watching TV. He's selfish and hopeless with money, but completely without malice, and his love for his family is entirely sincere. He's often less of a parent to Gumball and Darwin than a third, bigger brother.
- Voice
- Dan Russell
Granny Jojo
Richard's mother
A tough, eccentric grandmother who dotes on Richard and has little patience for anyone else. She later marries Louie, an elderly man from Elmore's retirement home.
Frankie Watterson
Richard's father
Richard's long-absent father turns up later in the series. His past as a con man explains a good deal about the family.
Elmore Junior High students
Gumball and Darwin's classmates are a deliberately random mix: a peanut, a cloud, a robot, a ghost, a balloon, a T-rex. Each was designed around a simple visual joke, and the show then gave most of them a surprising amount of personality over six seasons.
Penny Fitzgerald
Gumball's crush, then girlfriend
Penny starts the series as a shy, kind cheerleader who looks like a peanut with antlers. That shell turns out to be a covering. When it cracks, she's revealed to be a shapeshifting fairy whose form changes with her emotions. Her relationship with Gumball moves from awkward crush to an actual couple, one of the few lasting changes in a mostly episodic show.
Tobias Wilson
Show-off · Self-proclaimed athlete
Tobias is a rainbow-coloured boy who brags constantly and is much less impressive than he thinks. He wants to be popular and has no idea how to manage it.
Banana Joe
Class clown
A banana who thinks he's the funniest person in school. His jokes rarely land, but he's a loyal friend to Gumball and Darwin.
Tina Rex
Bully · Tyrannosaurus
Tina is a giant T-rex who towers over the school and enjoys picking on smaller kids, especially Gumball. She's rendered in a different style from everyone around her, which makes her look even more out of place. Later episodes hint that her toughness is partly an act.
Bobert
Robot classmate
Bobert is a literal-minded robot who processes the world through logic and understands human emotion only as data. He's Gumball's friend in his own odd way and frequently a useful tool in his schemes.
Carrie Krueger
Ghost · Goth
Carrie is a gloomy ghost who can possess people and pass through walls. She's one of Gumball's closest friends among the classmates, and dates Darwin for a while.
Masami Yoshida
Rich girl · Cloud
Masami is a wealthy, spoiled cloud who storms, literally, when she doesn't get her way. Her father's money gets her almost anything, except other people's patience.
Alan Keane
Balloon · Nicest kid in school
Alan is a green balloon who's relentlessly polite and positive, which Gumball finds deeply suspicious. His girlfriend is Carmen, a cactus, and the two of them are one of the school's most stable couples.
Carmen
Cactus · Alan's girlfriend
A prickly, no-nonsense cactus who likes things organised and is fiercely loyal to Alan.
Anton
Piece of toast
A slice of toast whose running gag is that he keeps getting destroyed, then turning up again unharmed.
Clayton
Shapeshifting liar
A ball of clay who can take any shape and tells constant lies to impress people.
Ocho
8-bit spider
A pixelated video-game spider who speaks in sound effects and tends to be overlooked.
Idaho
Potato from the countryside
A gentle potato from a farm who is new to Elmore and still adjusting to city life.
Leslie
Flower
A soft-spoken flower boy with a gentle manner who is easily upset by conflict.
Hector Jötunheim
Gentle giant
A massive kid whose head usually stays out of frame. He's sweet and sensitive despite his size.
Jamie
Horned bully
A tough kid with horns who intimidates most of the school and, it turns out, has a softer side.
Teri
Paper bear
A drawing of a bear on paper who's terrified of germs and easily damaged.
Sarah G. Lato
Ice cream · Superfan
A later arrival who's obsessed with Gumball and Darwin and writes elaborate fan fiction about her own life.
Rob
Forgotten background character turned villain
Rob was once a nameless extra. After being banished to the Void, a place for forgotten things, he returns furious about being a minor character and becomes the main threat of the final seasons.
School staff
The adults at Elmore Junior High are, if anything, less competent than the students. That's a big part of the joke.
Miss Simian
Teacher · Very old baboon
Miss Lucy Simian is Gumball and Darwin's teacher, a cranky, ancient baboon who appears to despise children in general and Gumball in particular. She has a long-running romance with Principal Brown.
Principal Brown
Principal · Furry blob
Nigel Brown is a round, hairy principal who is anxious, pompous and deeply in love with Miss Simian. He's also easily manipulated, which the students exploit regularly.
Mr. Small
Guidance counsellor
A laid-back, new-age counsellor who believes every problem can be solved by sharing your feelings. His advice usually makes things worse.
Rocky Robinson
Janitor · Bus driver
Rocky is a sweet, easygoing orange creature who drives the school bus and cleans the halls. He's one of the kindest adults in the show, despite being the son of the Wattersons' nastiest neighbour.
Coach
PE teacher
A tough, deadpan gym teacher who runs PE with a whistle and very little patience.
Elmore's townsfolk
Outside school, Elmore has a recurring set of neighbours, workers and officials, most of whom are as odd as the kids.
Mr. Robinson
Grumpy neighbour
Gaylord Robinson is a bitter, sour-faced neighbour who despises the Wattersons, especially Gumball. Despite this, the boys keep trying to befriend him, with predictably bad results.
Margaret Robinson
Mr. Robinson's wife
Margaret is as unpleasant as her husband, and the pair are an oddly well-matched couple.
Larry Needlemeyer
Works every job in town
Larry is a weary rock who seems to staff every shop, restaurant and service in Elmore. The running joke is that the town couldn't function without him.
Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald
Penny's parents
Penny's strict father and gentler mother. Mr. Fitzgerald disapproves of Gumball, which gives their relationship an obstacle to overcome.
Doughnut Sheriff
Police
A doughnut who serves as one of Elmore's two police officers, alongside his partner, Hot Dog Guy. Neither is much good at the job.
Voice cast at a glance
The show is a British production with a mostly British and American cast. Gumball and Darwin were played by real children, which is why their voices change between seasons. For more on the craft, see our voice actors guide.
| Character | Voice actor | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| Gumball Watterson | Logan Grove | 1–2 |
| Gumball Watterson | Jacob Hopkins | 3–4 |
| Gumball Watterson | Nicolas Cantu | 5–6 |
| Darwin Watterson | Kwesi Boakye | 1–2 |
| Darwin Watterson | Terrell Ransom Jr. | 3–4 |
| Darwin Watterson | Donielle T. Hansley Jr. | 5–6 |
| Anais Watterson | Kyla Rae Kowalewski | All |
| Nicole Watterson | Teresa Gallagher | All |
| Richard Watterson | Dan Russell | All |
History and where to start
Bocquelet developed the show from characters he'd originally designed for commercials, and the network's European studio built it in London. It premiered in 2011, picked up awards including BAFTAs, and grew more ambitious as it went on, with episodes parodying video games, musicals, anime and its own formula. The sixth season added a darker serialized thread with Rob, and the final episode, "The Inquisition", aired in 2019 and ended on a cliffhanger. Cartoon Network later announced a revival, The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball.
- Season 1 introduces the family and school, but the animation and humour are still settling in.
- Seasons 2–4 are the show at its sharpest, and the best place to start. Penny's shell breaks in season 3.
- Seasons 5–6 lean into self-aware, experimental episodes and Rob's arc.
What the characters are really about
Gumball's real subject is family. The Wattersons are messy, broke and frequently ridiculous, but they're never cruel to each other, and many of the best episodes are about them choosing each other over the rest of Elmore. Nicole and Richard's backstory episodes in particular turn a slapstick couple into a believable one.
The cast is also a running joke about what a cartoon can be. A teacher is a baboon, a classmate is a cloud, and the show keeps asking how that would work in practice. That's an approach it shares with fellow Cartoon Network hits such as Adventure Time and Steven Universe, while its fast, joke-dense family comedy has more in common with The Simpsons. For how a show manages a cast this large, see our page on ensemble casts; for a very different modern take on cartoon weirdness, try The Amazing Digital Circus.
All Gumball character names A–Z
A–C
- Alan Keane — Student
- Anais Watterson — Watterson
- Anton — Student
- Banana Joe — Student
- Bobert — Student
- Carmen — Student
- Carrie Krueger — Student
- Clayton — Student
- Coach — Staff
D–H
- Darwin Watterson — Watterson
- Doughnut Sheriff — Police
- Frankie Watterson — Grandfather
- Granny Jojo — Grandmother
- Gumball Watterson — Watterson
- Hector Jötunheim — Student
- Hot Dog Guy — Police
I–M
- Idaho — Student
- Jamie — Student
- Larry Needlemeyer — Townsfolk
- Leslie — Student
- Margaret Robinson — Neighbour
- Masami Yoshida — Student
- Miss Simian — Teacher
- Mr. Robinson — Neighbour
- Mr. Small — Counsellor
N–R
- Nicole Watterson — Mom
- Ocho — Student
- Penny Fitzgerald — Student
- Principal Brown — Principal
- Richard Watterson — Dad
- Rob — Villain
- Rocky Robinson — Janitor
S–T
- Sarah G. Lato — Student
- Teri — Student
- Tina Rex — Student
- Tobias Wilson — Student
Frequently asked questions
Who are the main characters in The Amazing World of Gumball?
The Watterson family: Gumball, a 12-year-old blue cat; Darwin, his adopted goldfish brother; Anais, their four-year-old genius sister; their mother Nicole; and their father Richard. Penny Fitzgerald, Gumball's crush and later girlfriend, is the most important character outside the family.
What kind of animal is Gumball?
Gumball is a blue cat. His mother Nicole is also a cat, while his father Richard and sister Anais are pink rabbits. Darwin is a goldfish who sprouted legs, and the family adopted him as Gumball's brother.
How did Darwin get legs?
Darwin started out as Gumball's pet goldfish. According to the show, Gumball's attention and love were enough to make him grow legs and lungs, and he simply walked out of his bowl. The family then treated him as a full member of the family, and the boys are best friends.
Why does Gumball's voice change between seasons?
The show cast real children and teenagers for Gumball and Darwin, and replaced them when their voices broke. Gumball was voiced by Logan Grove, then Jacob Hopkins, then Nicolas Cantu; Darwin by Kwesi Boakye, Terrell Ransom Jr. and Donielle T. Hansley Jr.
How did The Amazing World of Gumball end?
The series ended in 2019 with "The Inquisition", a season six episode that leaves the story on a cliffhanger involving Rob, the former background character turned villain. Cartoon Network later announced a revival series, The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball.
What is special about the animation in Gumball?
The show mixes styles freely. The Wattersons are flat 2D cartoons, but other characters are puppets, 3D models, clay figures, sock puppets or even photographed objects, all placed into backgrounds built from real photographs. That mix is why Elmore looks like nowhere else on TV.