Bojack | Horseman Qartulad

Dubbed in Georgian? No way. A look at how the existential dread of Bojack Horseman translates into the Georgian language, the cult following in Tbilisi, and why “Qartulad” might be the most depressing—and best—way to watch the show. If you had told me five years ago that I would be sobbing over a cartoon horse speaking Georgian, I would have laughed. But here we are.

Georgian is an ancient, guttural, and incredibly expressive language. It carries a weight that English often smooths over. When Bojack mutters, “What are you doing here?” in English, it sounds like a catchphrase. When the Georgian dub delivers “აქ რას აკეთებ?” (Ak ras aketeb?), it sounds like a soul being crushed under a velvet boot.

Georgia has a history. It has survived revolutions, wars, and the collapse of empires. There is a cultural understanding of “sadness as a default state” that Americans simply don’t have.

In English, Bojack’s despair is clinical. In Georgian, it is folkloric. Bojack Horseman Qartulad

Good luck. The official Netflix Georgian dub is available if you set your profile language to Georgian (or use a VPN to Georgia). However, the true treasure is the fan-edit community on Reddit (r/Sakartvelo) who have subtitled the untranslatable puns.

The voice actors for the Georgian dub (who remain criminally under-credited) faced an impossible task. How do you translate “That went better than most of my Christmases” (a reference to his traumatic childhood) without losing the rhythm? The answer, it turns out, is leaning into Georgian fatalism.

For English speakers, Bojack Horseman is a masterclass in wordplay, puns, and rapid-fire Hollywoo(d) satire. But for a growing cult audience in Georgia, the show exists in two forms: the original English, and the legendary, almost mythical (ქართულად). Dubbed in Georgian

Bojack Horseman Qartulad isn’t just a translation. It’s a reinterpretation. It proves that no matter what language you speak, a horse walks into a bar, orders a bourbon, and stares at the void.

When Todd says, “You are all the things that are wrong with you,” the Georgian audience doesn’t see it as a therapy line. They see it as “Romeli khar, is khar” (რომელი ხარ, ის ხარ)—a local proverb meaning “You are exactly what you are.” There is no escape clause.

There is a Georgian word: “წყენა” (ts’q’ena). It means a specific kind of sorrow, resentment, and melancholy you hold for someone you still love. The English script uses 20 words to describe this. The Georgian Bojack says one word, and you feel it in your bones. If you had told me five years ago

One fan favorite from Season 3 shows a billboard for “Secretariat.” In the Georgian version, the subtitle jokes that the movie is “produced by the Rustavi 2 news team”—a dark nod to Georgia’s own tumultuous media landscape.

And in Georgian, the void stares back in cursive.