Kristen Bell will be making her return to Central Park during the show’s third season. The show, which was created, written, and executive produced by Josh Gad, Tituss Burgess, and Daveed Diggs, is an animated musical comedy that follows the Tillerman family. It is set to return on September 9th to Apple TV+.
The third season of the show will see entrepreneur Bitsy (Stanley Tucci) continue her relentless pursuit to purchase New York’s Central Park for the purpose of turning the space into condos and retail space. To stop those plans, park manager Owen Tillerman (Leslie Odom Jr.) will begin a promotional campaign to make more people fall in love with the space. At the same time, his wife Paige (Kathryn Hahn) will be busier than ever after she lands her first book deal.
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The show also stars Gad as Birdie, the show’s narrator, Diggs as Helen, Bitsy’s assistant, and Titus Burgess as Cole Tillerman, Paige and Owen’s son. Guest stars in the upcoming season 3 include Sam Richardson, Ike Barinholtz, Ben Schwartz, Zoë Chao, Ron Funches, Jack McBrayer, Amber Ruffin, Yvette Nicole Brown, Craig Robinson, Tim Meadows, and David Alan Grier.
Central Park: Then and Now
Bell will portray Paige’s younger sister Abby, which makes her the aunt of Bell’s original character, Molly. Molly is the biracial daughter of the family who loves sketching comic books that feature herself as a superhero. In 2020, Bell and the rest of the creative team decided to recast the character with a black or mixed-race actress. The news came hours after it was announced that Jenny Slate would be doing the same on Big Mough for her biracial character.
Starting in season two, the role of Molly would be played by Emmy Raver-Lampman, who previously portrayed an actual superhero on The Umbrella Academy. Besides that, Raver-Lampman has quite a singing resume, having done live performances on stage for big such as Hair, Hamilton, and Wicked.
“I applauded the decision,” Odom continued. “I thought it was one of those decisions of when you know better, do better. I welcomed my new baby girl. And I applauded the brilliant Kristen Bell. And we kept it rolling.”
