[7] The series is both a homage and satire of common conventions from reality television competition shows like Survivor.

[15] Fresh TV partners McGillis, Jennifer Pertsch, George Elliott and Brian Irving produced the series.

[23] Alex Ganetakos, the executive story editor and the senior writer for the series, also mentioned in 2014 that the production team planned to make more seasons in the future.

[26][27][28] On October 6, 2022, Regular Capital posted a tweet revealing a new poster for Total Drama that showed the new cast and Chef in a new design.

[32] On March 28, 2023, it was confirmed that Terry McGurrin would be replacing Christian Potenza as Chris McLean because of "creative decisions".

[34][citation needed] Total Drama first premiered on July 8, 2007, on Teletoon in Canada, while the series aired almost a year later on Cartoon Network in the United States on June 5, 2008.

[citation needed] Total Drama Island also aired on Pop Max (formerly known as Kix) and Disney XD in the United Kingdom, with Action on Disney XD only and subsequent series unbroadcast in the territory until Total DramaRama was picked up by Pop.

Christian Potenza and Clé Bennett voice the two main characters in the series, who appear in almost every episode.

[41] Christian Potenza plays the role of egotistical and unempathetic host Chris McLean, saying that the best part of the job was that his character could not be voted off the show.

For the original cast: Emilie-Claire Barlow as Courtney,[43] Clé Bennett as DJ,[44] Julia Chantrey as Eva, Carla Collins as Blaineley, Katie Crown as Izzy,[44] Novie Edwards as Leshawna, Megan Fahlenbock as Gwen,[45] Kristin Fairlie as Bridgette,[44] Brian Froud as Harold, Sarah Gadon as Beth,[46] Marco Grazzini as Alejandro (for Total Drama World Tour), Carter Hayden as Noah, Alex House as Alejandro (for Total Drama All-Stars), Lauren Lipson as Sadie, Scott McCord as both Owen and Trent,[44] Stephanie Anne Mills as both Katie and Lindsay,[47] Drew Nelson as Duncan,[48] Annick Obonsawin as Sierra, Peter Oldring as Cody, Ezekiel, and Tyler, Dan Petronijevic as Geoff, Adam Reid as Justin, and Rachel Wilson as Heather.

[49] For the second generation cast, the voice actors are:[44] Carleigh Beverly as Dakota, Jon Cor as Brick, Cory Doran as Mike, Kevin Duhaney as Cameron, Laurie Elliot as Jo, Brian Froud as Sam, Athena Karkanis as Anne Maria, Barbara Mamabolo as Zoey, Caitlynne Medrek as Dawn, Ashley Peters as Staci, Tyrone Savage as Lightning, and James Wallis as Scott.

For the third generation cast, the voice actors are:[50] Clé Bennett as Beardo and Leonard, Zachary Bennett as Shawn, Katie Bergin as Jasmine, Daniel DeSanto as Dave, Bruce Dow as Max, Kristi Friday as Scarlett, Christopher Jacot as Topher, Bryn McAuley as Amy and Samey,[51] Sunday Muse as Ella,[52] Sarah Podemski as Sky, Ian Ronningen as Rodney,[53] and Rochelle Wilson as Sugar.

For the fourth generation cast, the voice actors are: Kwaku Adu-Poku as Caleb, Tamara Almeida as Axel, Brandon Michael Arrington as Bowie, Eman Ayaz as Priya, Julius Cho as Chase, Jack Copland as Wayne, Gerardo Gismondi as Zee, Katie Griffin as Scary Girl, Fred Kennedy as Ripper, Melanie Leishman as Emma, Barbara Mamabolo as Millie, Daniel Keith Morrison as Damien, Varun Saranga as Raj, Julie Sype as Julia, Tymika Tafari as Nichelle, and Kimberly Ann Truong as MK.

[54] Josh is the only minor character to have a voice actor of his own, Dwayne Hill, as these roles are usually given to one of the main cast members.

Geoff, Leonard, Noah, and Owen also appear in Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race as contestants.

[4] Beth, Bridgette, Cody, Courtney, DJ, Duncan, Ella, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Izzy, Katie, Leshawna, Lightning, Max, Noah, Owen, Sadie, Sugar, and Trent appear in the alternate-universe spin-off Total DramaRama as young children, along with Alejandro, Carrie, Chef Hatchet, Chet, Chris McLean, Don, Heather, Jasmine, Jen, Laurie, MacArthur, and Tom appearing as adults.

[60] The first part of the fifth season, All-Stars, was heavily criticized for its character derailment, challenges, main antagonist, and lack of payoff.

Cartoon Network released their Total Drama Island DVD in the U.S. on August 18, 2009 (Region 1), while Madman Entertainment (Region 4) also released Total Drama Island on DVD in Australia, but this time in two parts (Collection 1 on May 5, 2010,[69] and Collection 2 on September 29, 2010[70]).

[75] On October 8, 2014, Total Drama: Revenge of the Island was released into one part due to it being a shorter season.

[79] Even though most features (like user accounts, original avatar designer and badge counter) from this website were only exclusive to Canadian viewers, all of the games and basic elements were available to the rest of the world.

[81] A spin-off series titled Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race takes place in the same universe as the original show.

It features some of the original characters from Total Drama Island as toddlers such as Beth, Bridgette, Cody, Courtney, Duncan, Gwen, Harold, Izzy, Leshawna, Noah, and Owen, as well as Jude from 6teen.