Big Mouth: Netflix Casts Ayo Edebiri to Replace Jenny Slate as Missy

A few months ago, many white voice actors from various animated series made the decision to exit their roles after finally realizing they shouldn’t have been voicing people of color. One of the actors to make this decision was Jenny Slate, who voiced Missy on Netflix’s Big Mouth. After months of wondering who would end up taking on the role, the news was finally announced today that the series has cast Ayo Edebiri. Edebiri is a writer and comedian who most recently worked on Sunnyside, but many of our readers might know her from Twitter. In fact, she took to the social media site to break the big news in the best way.

Edebiri used the “me irl, animated me” meme to share her news, followed by a Variety article. You can check out the tweets below:

“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 told Variety. “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.”

Slate will continue to voice Missy for the majority of Big Mouth‘s fourth season with Edebiri taking up the mantle in the second-to-last episode of the season. Edebiri was actually hired as a writer for season five before landing the voice gig, so there’s a lot to look forward to from her in the future.

“As a writer my goal is never to figure out, ‘Oh let’s get myself a part on this show.’ When I’m writing, I’m serving my boss’ vision and I want to be helpful in whatever ways I can be and lend my ideas and my jokes and whatever else they need to that,” Edebiri explained. “Because I had the experience of being in the room and knowing the story, I think that helped with the comfort level,” she added of her audition.

In case you missed Slate’s explanation of her departure, you can read her Instagram post below:

Are you excited Edebiri is coming to Big Mouth? Tell us in the comments!

The first three seasons of Big Mouth are currently streaming on Netflix.