As we get closer and closer to the official premiere, Disney continues to shed more insight into its highly anticipated The Proud Family revival. According to recent reports, the reboot is set to star accomplished actors Billy Porter and Zachary Quinto as a gay couple.
Per Deadline, the new characters in the series are gay parents Randall and Barry-Leibowitz-Jenkins, “the mixed-race adoptive parents to 14-year-old-activist Maya Leibowitz-Jenkins.” The character of Maya is voiced by actress and former Disney star Keke Palmer.
Porter is fresh off his return to his Emmy Award-winning role as Pray Tell on FX’s Pose, which is in the middle of its third and final season. Quinto, known for playing Spock in the Star Trek films, was most recently in Ryan Murphy‘s The Boys in the Band on Netflix last year.
As theGrio has previously reported, Disney has been slowly revealing details on its new Proud Family reboot all year now. The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder will see the stars of the original series reuniting, including Kyla Pratt (Penny Proud), Tommy Davidson (Oscar Proud), Paula Jai Parker (Trudy Parker Proud), and Jo Marie Payton (Suga Mama). According to Variety, the series “picks up the story of Penny, her madcap family and loyal crew from the original series that ran from 2001 to 2005.”
The series also announced that EJ Johnson of the popular E! series Rich Kids Of Beverly Hills is joining the Louder and Prouder cast as a new character as well. Johnson will voice “Michael Collins, Penny’s best guy friend who is a non-conforming trendsetter, serving up fierce looks at school and on the basketball court.”
Johnson took to Instagram to celebrate the news of his casting and spoke to playing such a “fabulous” character. “Feeling all the elation feels today as I finally get to announce I’m voicing and bringing to life the character Michael Collins In the proud family louder and prouder on @disneyplus,” he wrote in the caption. “This character is witty fabulous glamorous and a force to be reckoned as well as unapologetically themselves. All attributes I love to bring to my characters . Thank you @epfarq19 for this amazing opportunity! Get ready to do the most.”
Earlier this year, executive producers Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar released a statement on why they brought back the popular Disney Channel series, sharing that, “In our minds, the show never really went away, as we still had tons of stories left to tell. It’s the perfect time to bring back this show, and we can’t wait to take fans, old and new alike, on this journey with us.”
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