Comedian Ayo Edebiri will be replacing comedian Jenny Slate as the voice actor playing Missy on Netflix’s Bigmouth, Variety reports. Slate had announced her departure in July over Instagram, explaining: “At the start of the show, I reasoned with myself that it was permissible for me to play Missy because her mom is Jewish and white–as am I. But Missy is also Black, and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people.”
Slate’s departure came as the puberty comedy was mid-production on Season 4. Edebiri will take over the role in the second to last episode of that season, and will be joining the writers’ room for the fifth season (which, due to the show’s production schedule, she began on first).
“I was definitely a very uncomfortable child, so I think the show speaks to that and a lot of those feelings, which still resonate with me as an adult,” Edebiri said. “I’m back home in my childhood bedroom right now and on my bookshelf in between A Series of Unfortunate Events’ is Bill Clinton’s autobiography and Nelson Mandela’s autobiography and a translation of The Iliad in Latin. I was a true dork. So I don’t think I have to go too far to connect with Missy.”
Of the transition, Edebiri said it will be “a nice farewell to Jenny” and that she intends to pay “homage… while also bringing something new. The voice I found is also because of the work Jenny did, too.”
Big Mouth debuted on Netflix in 2017 and was co-created by Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett. In addition to Edebiri, its cast includes Kroll (The League, Kroll Show), John Mulaney (Saturday Night Live, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), and Maya Rudolph (Idiocracy, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping).
Source: Read Full Article