General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Cleopatra in Space

An American animated comedy series with a science fiction setting, Cleopatra in Space was produced by DreamWorks Animation with animation from Titmouse, Inc., and draws on Mike Maihack's graphic novels that share its title. It follows a teenage Cleopatra VII who is transported 30,000 years into the future to an Egyptian-themed planet ruled by talking cats, where she discovers she is the prophesied savior of the future world and trains at an elite academy while trying to find her way home to Egypt.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Production	DreamWorks Animation Television; animated by Titmouse, Inc.; based on Mike Maihack's graphic novels¹
Network and run	Peacock (US); 3 seasons, 26 episodes, from April 2020 to January 14, 2021³
Premiere	First five episodes released April 15, 2020 for Xfinity customers; the first DreamWorks Animation series released on a streaming service other than Netflix or Prime Video¹
Main cast	Lilimar (Cleopatra), Katie Crown (Akila), Jorge Diaz (Brian), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Khensu), Kari Wahlgren (Callie), Jonathan Kite (Octavian)⁴
Rating and genre	TV-Y7 (FV); kids and family, adventure, comedy, animation⁵
Source books	Six graphic novels from Scholastic Graphix, Target Practice (2014) through Queen of the Nile (2020)⁶
Audience score	7.1/10 on IMDb from about 357 user ratings⁷

Spoilers

Premise

In ancient Egypt, the teenaged Cleopatra VII, unhappy with the impending responsibilities of queendom, finds a hidden tomb while playing with her friend Kozi; a Time Gate within catapults her 30,000 years into the future, to the Nile Galaxy. Her arrival has been prophesied: she is to be the savior of that galaxy's Egyptian-like civilization, which is threatened by the forces of a world-conquering galactic empire whose emperor is named Octavian.⁸

Cleopatra befriends students Brian, a cyborged young scientist, and Akila, an upbeat humanoid alien fish-girl, along with their tutor, Professor Khensu, a cat-like alien. The authorities, noting her youth and inexperience, send her to the P.Y.R.A.M.I.D. Academy for education and training under Khensu's supervision. Octavian stole most of the galaxy's digital information and destroyed any other copies, so the Academy seeks to recover surviving scientific and historic data.⁸ Cleopatra is homesick, and the lack of historical records means she does not know whether she ever returns to her own time. Cleopatra learns that at times she emits a glow and takes in energy, and comes to realize that wielding this ability is the sole means of destroying Octavian, who cannot die.⁸

Story across the seasons

Season One spends much of its time on one-off episodes, world-building, and establishing character, with some Academy-based plots carrying a campus sitcom feel. Overarching plot elements also appear: a spy lurks, attempts are made to kidnap Cleopatra, and there are adventures on other planets, including a diplomatic mission with the teenaged Pharaoh Yosira to secure alliances against Octavian.⁸

Subsequent seasons are more plot-focused. Cleopatra and Octavian end up competing to get the powerful UTA tablet; Cleopatra wins it, yet a traitor at a senior level, convinced that handing it over is the sole means of rescuing millions of lives, betrays her to Octavian. He attacks the Academy and becomes effectively ruler of the galaxy. Cleopatra learns that Octavian is Kozi, transformed and made immortal at the operation of the Time Gate, then abducted by alien pirates and risen to his present position. Cleopatra and her friends escape through a wormhole, reappearing 63,000 light years away, with Khensu telling her she is the galaxy's only hope.⁸ The final episode, "Pyramid Scheme," aired on January 14, 2021, and depicts Octavian invading Mayet after a huge betrayal.³^•⁹

Release

The series was one of three animated Peacock Originals at the July 15, 2020 national launch of NBCUniversal's streaming service, alongside Where's Waldo?.¹⁰^•¹¹ Release dates are reported differently across sources: Rotten Tomatoes and Common Sense Media list a release date of April 15, 2020,⁵^•¹² while the episode guide dates all thirteen Season 1 episodes to July 15, 2020.³ Season 2 followed on November 19, 2020 and Season 3 on January 14, 2021.³ All three seasons were later added to Hulu on July 14, 2021, and the series is also available on Disney+.¹^•⁵

Source graphic novels

The television series adapts Mike Maihack's graphic novel series published by Scholastic's Graphix imprint. Target Practice (Book 1, April 2014, 176 pages) was Maihack's first graphic novel; it was followed by The Thief and the Sword (2015), Secret of the Time Tablets (2016), The Golden Lion (2017), Fallen Empires (2019), and the conclusion Queen of the Nile (August 2020, 240 pages).⁶^•¹³ The series grew out of a webcomic, Cleopatra in Spaaaace! Book .5, that Maihack ran from 2009 to 2012.¹⁴

Reception

Steven Pearce, writing in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, gave a short positive review, calling the series fun, amusing, and "brightly animated and engaging," while criticizing the writing and Cleopatra's personality as "very much your feisty American teen." He praised details similar shows might skimp on, such as the language problem being resolved with a "neuro translation net" and Akila explaining her species' similarity to humans as convergent evolution.⁸^•¹ Ashley Moulton of Common Sense Media rated the series 3 out of 5, noting "a lot of fantasy violence" in which characters use laser guns and spears against robot Xerxs, and describing Cleopatra as a fearless female lead whose role-model potential is offset by being impulsive, impatient, overconfident, and not dedicated to schoolwork.¹² On IMDb the series holds a 7.1/10 rating from about 357 votes.⁷

The show ended after its third season on a cliffhanger, and the episode guide lists its status as canceled/ended.³

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Animated television series (individual series) › Children's animated adventure and fantasy series › Comedy and slice-of-life series › Premiered 2020 to 2024

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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