For the new Zootopia+ series on…well, Disney+, Walt Disney Animation Studios found a way to return to the world of the Oscar-winning movie, just not how fans may have expected. Featuring a series of standalone episodes that follow specific characters, the new show actually takes place during the events of the movie, filling in the gaps about what some of the animals were doing when they weren’t on screen. Speaking with ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview, stars Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake, who play Judy Hopps’ parents, Bonnie and Stu, respectively, opened up about returning to their roles six years later, while needing to act like no time has passed at all.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“I think as Don and I met in the theater years ago we’ve been able to do film together, television, radio, this voice work it’s just right where we left off,” Hunt tells us. “So that’s kind of who we are as, as friends and as creative collaborators. So no, no, no problem. And it’s just so fun when somebody asks you to work together.”
Lake added, “Yeah, you’re just so excited, there’s no downside at all. You just like Bonnie said, you pick it up where you left off like old friends do when they get together again and have a chat, you know, it’s like no time has gone by and then we love the characters so much and the way they are and being married is so fun for us and all these kids. It’s tremendous.
Zootopia+ is directed by Trent Correy and Josie Trinidad, both of whom were involved with the original film — Correy as an animator and Trinidad as a writer. The six episode anthology series follows various residents of the Zootopia world, including Flash the Sloth, Fru, Gazzel’s backup dancers, and more. Some characters however didn’t make the cut despite the best intentions of the show’s creators
“We kept trying to find a space for Finnick and it just never… we had him in a couple of scenes here and there and it never panned out,” Correy told us in another interview. “That’s what jumps to my head.”
“You know we also, in developing the Flash episode, the sloth episode, there was a moment where it was a cooking show with Yax from the Mystic Springs Oasis,” Trinidad said. “I wish we could have found a way to sneak Yax in there as well. That would have been fun.”
Zootopia+ is now streaming on Disney+.
