Back in June, Jenny Slate, a White actress, announced that she would no longer voice Missy, a biracial character, on Netflix’s Big Mouth. “Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people. I acknowledge how my original reasoning was flawed, that it existed as an example of white privilege and unjust allowances made within a system of societal white supremacy, and that in me playing ‘Missy,’ I was engaging in an act of erasure of Black people,” she wrote, while the show’s creators, all of whom are white, added that they would “recast a new Black actor to play her.”
Slate’s replacement has been found.
Ayo Edebiri will take over as Missy beginning with the penultimate episode of next season, Variety revealed (Slate will continue to voice her until then). “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,” the actor, comedian, writer, and Iconography podcast host said about playing the Nathan Fillion-loving character. “I was a true dork. So I don’t think I have to go too far to connect with Missy,” as seen on Twitter.
Me irl: Animated me: pic.twitter.com/tJDH1XN5Wg
— Ayo Edebiri (@ayoedebiri) August 28, 2020
Edebiri was already a part of Big Mouth before she got the role:
She booked the role just a few weeks ago and has already recorded her season four dialogue. She also joined the writers’ room of the show for the fifth season — a job she actually booked and began working first, given the schedule of breaking stories and penning scripts.
As for why she didn’t voice Missy for the entire fourth season, co creator Andrew Goldberg explained, “By the time we made the decision to cast Ayo, we had finished all of season four and delivered it to Netflix.” But the passing of the voice-acting baton, so to speak, comes from “a really organic and cool place.” Here’s more of Edebiri:
Big Mouth season four does not currently have a premiere date.
(Via Variety)