Anyone familiar with The White Lotus’ elaborate main titles might see the creative genius of eclectic studio Plains of Yonder in the opening credits for Netflix’s plague comedy, The Decameron. 

While the Seattle, Wash.-based agency used motifs embedded in elaborate wallpaper to hint at the story of The White Lotus – both in Maui and in Sicily – it turned to hand-inked rats frolicking and capering into symbolic images to tell The Decameron’s. By the end, hundreds of rodents – a combination of hand-drawn animation combined with cutting-edge particle and 3D work – come together to form the show’s title sequence. 

“The process was slow, unprecedented, wildly experimental, highly vulnerable to revisions, technically unrealistic, financially questionable, and generally problematic on most other fronts,” Plains of Yonder posted on its website. “But the rats sprung to life, the team stayed undaunted and tireless, our wonderful client remained ever-trusting, the track composer sublime, and together we created a main title that looks. moves, sounds and most importantly, feels like nothing else on television.” 

Here’s a peek behind the scenes at the making of the main titles:

Plains of Yonder recently earned two Emmy nominations for main title design: once for season two of HBO’s The White Lotus as well as for Prime Video’s Rings of Power. 

Limited comedy series The Decameron premiered on Netflix on July 25. 

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