Mad Saints

Saint Freaks is an American animated television series created by Geo Moreno which aired on from January 29, 2011 to March 28, 2015. Blending, , , and elements, the series follows four adolescents descended from supernatural and mythological beings as they protect Earth by battling threats from mythology while attempting to blend into human society. Its main characters are Jasper Dark (Baxter Adamson),  Ken Ochoa (Dominic Dominguez),  Michael Morningstar (Floyd MacLeod), and  Sebastian Blake (Joaquin Sanchez). Moreno describes the series' story as "starting out fine, then becoming increasingly entangled in ".

Moreno first conceived Saint Freaks as a graphic novel, but ultimately chose to turn it into a television series to avoid condensing the storytelling too much. He brought the pilot to in 2009, and the network subsequently greenlit it. Moreno and Jonathan Anderson were the series' original executive producers, with Steven Subaru, Steve Bergen, Tony Ferino, and Maura Morrow joining later in the series' run. Animated by Linkhouse and then Studio Memo, Saint Freaks was produced by Geo Pictures in association with.

Though Saint Freaks was never a Top 30 hit in the, the show drew in high ratings for The CW during its second through fifth seasons. The show has developed a large fanbase and received critical acclaim for its characters, voice cast, visual design, storylines, character development, and overall originality, though it garnered criticism from conservatives over its depictions of mythology and its violence, mild language, mature references,  rating, and primetime time slot have sparked a debate over whether or not it qualifies as. It has been nominated for several and other awards, and has been credited with launching the careers of its young voice actors. In 2020, the series was ranked #1 on MoonJump's list of the Top 10 Greatest Animated Series of the 2010s.

Development
Geo Moreno conceived Saint Freaks as a graphic novel titled Freakish Sainthood circa 2005. The main characters closely resembled those in Saint Freaks, four teenagers descended from mythological beings from a wide range of cultures. Moreno has stated that "I made it to the writing phase before I just ditched the project", and has also noted that "I couldn't properly write the story without it feeling super rushed, and I felt like I needed to start a whole series". He conceived the first three entries in the proposed series and then "gave up", deciding to continue focusing on his animation career for the time being.

In 2008, Moreno decided to revive the project as an animated series, writing in his autobiography The Geo Moreno Book that "the project worked better as a TV show than a comic series". He thereby resigned from his role as director of the series DSTRYR to focus on his own project. He then brought the pilot script to in late 2009, now calling it Saint Freaks, with more fleshed out protagonists. , President of Entertainment at The CW Network, accepted the idea of an animated series "written like a normal primetime show", though she still thought it could "use some work". A short series of rewrites developed the show into its final product, a slightly dark-humored urban fantasy-type series.

The CW had brought screenwriter Jonathan Anderson onboard as an executive producer, and Moreno worked with him beforehand. The show was greenlit "last minute" by The CW, and scheduled to premiere during the 2010–11 season. Moreno's production company Geo Pictures worked with Warner Bros. on the series.

Casting
Moreno himself wanted the show to include child voice actors for the entire main cast and a large part of supporting cast. In the main cast, Baxter Adamson voiced Jasper, Dominic Dominguez voiced Ken, Floyd voiced Michael, and Joaquin Sanchez voiced Sebastian; the former two were 15 when recording began, while the latter two were 14. Additionally, Marcie Rosado was 13 years old when she was cast as Jackie Powers; Bernard and Moreno agreed that her "sweet, pitched up voice" made her perfect for the role. They had similar opinions about Percy Ortega, who voiced recurring antagonist Simon Estrada and was cast at 15; and Jamie Faye Stone, who voiced Gracie Hanson, was cast at 16.

Many of the older supporting cast members were people either Moreno or casting director Pierre Bernard already knew. For example, Bernard cast Kearney Forbes as Lucifer after having met him while working on The Boring Life of Jack. Frank Delgado, the voice of Damian Ochoa, previously voiced Alexius 3 in DSTRYR, after which Moreno befriended him. Another friend of Moreno's, actor and Sunset Band lead singer P.G. Quimby, voices Michael's grandfather Alastair. Moreno and Bernard both knew Martha Sage, the voice actress of the protagonists' teacher Mrs. Wayne, from the 2007 film The W.

Many minor characters were voiced by crew members. One example is Geo, a background character who appears once a season and was voiced by and based on Geo Moreno himself. Producer Dominic Agostino and composer Michael Marcie provided the respective voices of minor characters Dom and Mikey. Executive producer Steve Bergen voiced other characters.