'BoJack Horseman' Director Michael John Roberts Dies at 46

Michael John Roberts, the animator and director behind the title sequence of Netflix's "BoJack Horseman," died Wednesday in Los Angeles of glioblastoma. He was 46. His family confirmed the death in a statement that remembered him as an artist whose creativity shaped not only his work but his way of thinking.

Roberts built his reputation in adult animation. He directed the "BoJack Horseman" title sequence and two episodes of the Netflix series, which ran for six seasons and became one of the platform's defining animated hits. On Comedy Central's anthology series "Triptank," his contribution ran deeper: he directed 28 episodes.

What did Roberts direct beyond those two shows?

His credits spread across some of the most-watched animated series of the past decade:

• "F Is for Family," Netflix's animated family comedy co-created by Bill Burr
• "Final Space," the sci-fi animated series
• "Strange Planet," the Apple TV+ adaptation of Nathan W. Pyle's webcomic
• "MrBeast Lab"

Roberts also created the YouTube Red series "Dallas & Robo," a space-western comedy that premiered in 2018 with John Cena and Kat Dennings leading the voice cast. Creating a series, rather than directing one, marked him as a full-cycle storyteller in an industry that usually splits those jobs.

Outside television, he directed commercials for Honda, Burger King, ABC Television and Pulse Electric Scooters, and music videos for the Canadian bands The Sadies and The Pack A.D.

How did he come to animation?

Roberts was raised in Toronto and graduated from Sheridan College, the Canadian institution long known as a training ground for animators. He entered the industry as a junior animator, then worked his way up through storyboard artist to director. That path — from frame-by-frame production work to running episodes — is the traditional ladder of television animation, and Roberts climbed all of it.

His family's statement, issued after his death, described a temperament that suited the work. "Michael saw the world a little differently," the statement said. "A gifted artist with an extraordinary talent, he could find something worth exploring in what others might overlook. His creativity was not limited to what he put on paper; it shaped the way he thought, questioned, and understood the world around him."

The statement continued: "He was drawn to things with character, substance, and a story beneath the surface. For Michael, the most interesting part of anything was often what you discovered by looking a little closer."

Those sentences read almost as a description of the shows he chose. "BoJack Horseman" and "Strange Planet" both trade on the gap between surface appearance and what lies beneath — the very quality his family said he sought in everything.

"He never needed to be the center of attention, though he could command it when the moment suited him," the family said. "More often, he was content observing with a quiet curiosity and an artist's eye. When he chose to join in, it might be with a thoughtful challenge or a perfectly timed observation, delivered with a clever, understated wit."

Roberts is survived by his wife, the actress Bree Williamson, his son McGreggor, his parents and a sister.

What does his death change for adult animation? Glioblastoma has now taken a director whose résumé touched nearly every major animated series of the streaming era, and the credits he leaves — from "BoJack Horseman" to "Strange Planet" — will remain part of the canon that defined the genre's rise.