Electric City (web series)

Lore & Background

The series begins after the world has ended. Electric City represents peace and security in the midst of rubble, but beneath its orderly utopia lie secrets, back-alley dealings, daring chases, and murder. Mankind is reduced to small settlements whose main business is to produce electric power. With fossil and nuclear fuels mostly depleted, communities depend on naturally created electricity—by air, water, or muscle power (the latter used as punishment for criminals). Under the motto 'All in service to all,' everyone must contribute to society's welfare.

Reader's Guide

Electric City is a collective name for several geographically separated precincts, including Nerima, Greenlight, Morningside, The Mines, The Agricultural Territories, and The Outside. Central administration takes place at Central Stations. The precincts are connected by power cables and a wired radio service, but free communication, trading, and traveling are illegal to conserve power and maintain the influence of the 'knitting society,' a matriarchal group of war survivors who founded Electric City. The Tap Coders, an underground movement of free-thinkers, seek to establish an illegal communications network, posing a threat to the knitting society's control. The series explores themes of power, control, and resistance in a resource-scarce world.

Did You Know?

• Tom Hanks wrote the first story for Electric City on an Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter.
• The series was developed at Playtone, Hanks' production company, without a production or distribution plan until Yahoo! purchased the distribution.
• Animation services were provided by 6 Point Harness in Los Angeles under the direction of Joel Trussell.
• A mobile application for iOS and Google Android was released alongside the web series, including 2 comics, a behind-the-scenes sneak peek, and character profiles.

Origins & the Long Road to Production

Tom Hanks, Josh Feldman, and Bo Stevenson began developing Electric City as far back as 2003, long before anyone had a clear plan for how the project would reach an audience. Hanks wrote the very first story on an Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter, a detail that highlights how analog and personal the project's genesis was. For years the material was shaped and reshaped at Playtone, Hanks' own production company, with no concrete production or distribution strategy in place. That impasse broke when Yahoo! purchased the distribution rights, converting an ambitious script into a viable web series. The finished product launched on Yahoo! Screen on July 17, 2012, comprising 20 short episodes that together total roughly 90 minutes of runtime. Animation was carried out by 6 Point Harness in Los Angeles under the direction of Joel Trussell. Notably, all three of the original writers also lent their voices to characters in the final show, blurring the boundary between creator and performer.

A Fractured Utopia: Society & Governance

Electric City is not a single municipality but a collective label for several geographically separated precincts stitched together by power cables and a wired radio service. The setting is post-apocalyptic: fossil and nuclear fuel sources are nearly exhausted, so communities survive on electricity generated naturally from air, water, or human muscle power, the last of which doubles as a punishment for criminals. Under the guiding motto 'All in service to all,' every resident is expected to contribute to collective welfare. The matriarchal knitting society, founded by war survivors, ruthlessly defends its power base. Free communication, trade, and travel between precincts are outlawed because they drain precious electrical reserves and erode the society's influence. The precincts include Nerima, home to water purification and a Camera Obscura observatory; Greenlight, where the city's first university sits; Morningside, the most modern residential zone; The Mines, a manufacturing district; and the Agricultural Territories, the primary food source. Beyond the coast lies The Outside, an off-limits territory where fugitives persecuted by the knitting society take shelter. An underground movement called the Tap Coders works to build an illegal communications network, making them a thorn the society is determined to eliminate.

Aesthetic of Scarcity: Technology & Daily Life

The world of Electric City operates under a strict technological austerity that shapes every aspect of daily existence. Wood serves as the primary construction material rather than metal or plastic, and firearms are entirely absent from the landscape. Yet certain conveniences persist: electric light, electric heat, and a crude elevated cable tram known as the Skytrain. Bulk goods move via freighter boats along canals, while a Walking Post handles interpersonal messages but cannot carry parcels. The Wire Service functions as a hardwired radio broadcast originating from Wire Central, and citizens face punishment if caught tapping its power supply. A newspaper called The Daylight is published only in the old broadside format, posted in town-square kiosks with no individual sales or subscriptions. Recording wire, a technology that largely vanished by the 1950s, still appears in active use. The city powers down overnight to conserve energy, with the Wire Service as the sole exception. Meanwhile, an encampment on The Outside is shown to possess a full library of vinyl records and stereo players, supposedly salvaged from 'the lost cities,' hinting at a richer material culture flourishing beyond the city's rigid controls.

Loyalty, Betrayal & the Central Conflict

The narrative engine of Electric City revolves around Cleveland Carr, voiced by Tom Hanks, a former Allied Municipal Patrol team leader who lost his identity and old life after a tragic accident during a mission. Recruited by the knitting society, he becomes a grid operative and assassin working under Ruth Orwell, a childhood war survivor and his immediate superior. His previously unquestioning loyalty begins to fracture when he meets Hope Chatsworth, the popular anchorwoman of Wire 6 radio, and is tasked with assassinating Richard Jacobs. The knitting society, a matriarchal founding council, views the Tap Coders—an underground network of free-thinkers building illegal communications channels—as an existential threat to their authority. Frank Deetleman, Hope's technician colleague at Wire 6, secretly works as a Tap Coder activist, while young Roger Moore, a Youth Auxiliary member, spies on their code transmissions for the AMP. This tangled web of loyalties, betrayals, and ideological conflict generates the series' tension beneath the surface of its orderly, utopian facade, where secrets, back-alley dealings, daring chases, and murder persist despite the appearance of peace.