Skillsville

Skillsville is an animated children's TV series that premiered on March 3, 2025, on PBS Kids with funding from the United States Department of Education. The series is produced by Twin Cities PBS (TPT) and Sphere Media.

The show is set in a gaming environment and is designed to help children develop executive function skills and learn about careers.

Premise

The series centers around a racially-diverse trio of children: Cora, Dev and Rae, who have everyday thoughts and ideas about future careers. Realizing that they can experience those in Skillsville, an open-world video game developed by Cora's mother, they touch a truncated octahedron-shaped toy and say "Launch Skillsville" to prompt it to transport them into the game, where they take on their in-game personas (ParCora, Devosaurus, and Racer Rae) and try to work in various occupations to provide services for characters called Beeples, often with help from an anthropomorphic lavender pupperfly (dog-dragonfly hybrid) named Scout. When the children have a problem, they pause to give themselves time to come up with a solution, then unpause to implement it. At the end of every episode, they say goodbye to Scout (who responds with "Later, gamers!") and leave the game.

Characters

Main

• Rae (also known as Racer Rae, voiced by Jessy Yates) is a disabled white girl who uses a wheelchair.
• Cora (also known as ParCora, voiced by Nissae Isen) is an African-American girl who wears a visor and a cyan vest when she plays Skillsville with Rae and Dev. She also wields a staff.
• Dev (also known as Devosaurus, voiced by Elishia Perosa) is an Indian boy who dons a virtual dinosaur costume when he plays Skillsville with Rae and Cora.
• Camille (also known as Mrs. Walker and Camille-4-Real, voiced by Morissa Nicole) is Cora's mother. She works as a Skillsville operator, having created the game herself.

Recurring

• Scout (voiced by Cory Doran) is a character in the Skillsville game who guides Rae, Cora, and Dev through their adventures. He is an anthropomorphic lavender pupperfly, a fictional species that resembles a dog with the wings and antennae of a dragonfly.
• Beeples (voiced by Cory Doran) are the NPC residents of Skillsville.
• Evan and Annie (voiced by Scott Gorman and Katie Griffin) are Rae's parents.
• Nani (also known as NaniRani, voiced by Ragini Kapil) is Dev's grandmother.
• Cedric Walker (voiced by Dwain Murphy) is Cora's father.

Additionally, there is an unnamed announcer (voiced by Jamie Watson) who announces when missions are assigned and completed. Their main appearance is through a set of soundbars.

Episodes

All episodes are designated as Season 1.

Broadcast

The series premiered on March 3, 2025, on PBS Kids. After airing 18 episodes, PBS dropped the series on January 31, 2026. Beginning February 1, 2026, American Public Television began national distribution to local public television stations, and episodes were released on YouTube.

Cancellation

Two months following the broadcast premiere, production was abruptly halted in May 2025 due to the termination of the Ready To Learn grant, which had been providing major financial support (upwards of $4.6 million) for the development of the series since 2020. Skillsville project director, Momoko Hayakawa, indicated 22 episodes were still in production and nearing completion when the TPT staff was furloughed. Eight of the episodes were subsequently completed during the original PBS Kids run and broadcast on the PBS Kids channel in the summer and winter of that year; a further twelve will premiere on PBS and other public television stations through American Public Television in 2026.

Multimedia programs

In addition to the television series, the Skillsville "Innovation Program" includes summer camps and "pop up events" for community engagement with children and their families. These hands-on activities focus on the same life skills and career exploration topics from the show with the goal of helping children succeed in their future careers.

Games

As part of the fully immersive program, four Skillsville games were planned to be released on the PBS Kids website, as well as the PBS Kids Games app.

Reception

Awards

Skillsville won a Bronze Telly Award in Children's Television for its "Air Traffic Controller" episode.