Kristen Bell will no longer voice Molly, who is mixed-race, on Apple TV+’s animated musical comedy series Central Park. She will remain on the show, from 20th Century Fox TV, playing a new character.
Netflix’s animated comedy Big Mouth made a similar change today, with Jenny Slate exiting the cast where she voice Missy, a biracial girl. The role will be recast with a Black actor. Both decisions had been in the works for awhile.
Central Park, which has a two-season order at Apple TV+. hails from Bob’s Burgers creator/EP Loren Bouchard, who co-wrote it with Bob’s Burgers executive producer Nora Smith and Gad.
“Kristen Bell is an extraordinarily talented actress who joined the cast of Central Park from nearly the first day of the show’s development – before there was even a character for her to play – and she has since delivered a funny, heartfelt, and beautiful performance,” Bouchard, Smith, Gad and the rest of Central Park‘s creative team, Halstead Sullivan and Sanjay Shah, said in a statement (you can read it in full below). “But after reflection, Kristen, along with the entire creative team, recognizes that the casting of the character of Molly is an opportunity to get representation right – to cast a Black or mixed race actress and give Molly a voice that resonates with all of the nuance and experiences of the character as we’ve drawn her. Kristen will continue to be a part of the heart of the show in a new role but we will find a new actress to lend her voice to Molly.”
Because of the length production cycle for an animated series, Season 2 already has been recorded and is currently being animated. The intent is for the Molly role to be recast as soon as Season 2, with her dialogue rerecorded.
At TCA in January, Bouchard faced criticism over casting Bell as the voice of Molly, a mixed-race girl. Bell “needed to be Molly, she was always going to honor that character. We couldn’t make Molly white or Kristen mixed race, so we had to go forward,” he said at the time.
Bouchard and Gad executive produce the series alongside Brillstein Entertainment Partners, with Smith serving as consulting producer. Kevin Larsen, who played a key role in getting the project together, is a producer.
The cast of the series also includes Dan Mintz, John Roberts, David Diggs and Stanley Tucci.
Here is the full statement:
Kristen Bell is an extraordinarily talented actress who joined the cast of Central Park from nearly the first day of the show’s development – before there was even a character for her to play – and she has since delivered a funny, heartfelt, and beautiful performance.
But after reflection, Kristen, along with the entire creative team, recognizes that the casting of the character of Molly is an opportunity to get representation right – to cast a Black or mixed race actress and give Molly a voice that resonates with all of the nuance and experiences of the character as we’ve drawn her. Kristen will continue to be a part of the heart of the show in a new role but we will find a new actress to lend her voice to Molly.
We profoundly regret that we might have contributed to anyone’s feeling of exclusion or erasure.
Black people and people of color have worked and will continue to work on Central Park but we can do better. We’re committed to creating opportunities for people of color and Black people in all roles, on all our projects – behind the mic, in the writers room, in production, and in post-production. Animation will be stronger for having as many voices, experiences, and perspectives as we can possibly bring into the industry. Our shop and our show will be better for respecting the nuances and complexity around the issue of representation and trying to get it right.