The legendary Disney sitcom, The Proud Family will soon be making its return and this time around we’ll be seeing some serious LGBTQ representation. Billy Porter, Zachary Quinto and EJ Johnson have all been casted to voice new characters on the Disney+ reboot.
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder is expected to launch sometime in 2022 and will be led by the original producers, Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar. Joining them is Calvin Brown, Jr. who is co-executive producer and story editor, producer Jan Hirota, and Eastwood Wong as art director.
Renowned actors Billy Porter and Zachary Quinto will be portraying Randall and Barry-Leibowitz-Jenkins, interracial adoptive parents to Maya Leibowitz-Jenkins. Maya is set to be voiced by Keke Palmer.
The sitcom will follow its original storyline starring its main character, Penny Proud and voiced by original cast member, Kyla Pratt. Returning to the show alongside Pratt will be Tommy Davidson as Oscar Proud, Paula Jai Parker as Trudy Proud, JoMarie Payton as Suga Mama, Cedric the Entertainer as Uncle Bobby, Carlos Mencia as Felix Boulevardez, Maria Canals-Barrera as Sunset Boulevardez, Alvaro Gutierrez as Papi, Karen Malina White as Dijonay Jones, Soleil Moon Frye as Zoey Howzer and Alisa Reyes as LaCienega Boulevardez.
Johnson has the pleasure of voicing one of Penny’s best friends, Michael Collins who was previously voiced by Phil LaMarr. Collins is considered a non conforming trendsetter who’s known for dominating in the school hallways as well as on the basketball court.
Fans will see a different side of Johnson due to his long history in reality and unscripted reality television. As for Quinto, this is nothing new as he’s featured in both Amazon’s Invincible and Netflix’s Big Mouth.
Porter will also be stepping into new territory as he’s known for his stage and screen work on Broadway productions such as Dreamgirls and Kinky Boots. Nonetheless, Porter truly stole the spotlight from his character Pray Tell in the FX series, Pose.
Penny’s BFF’s Dijonay (White), LaCienega (Reyes) and Zoey (Frye) will be making their grand return to the animated series. In addition, fans will be reunited with Penny’s crazy but loving family such as her parents Oscar and Trudy, twin siblings BeBe and CeCe, and her grandmother Suga Mama (and Puff!).
Excitement is growing ‘louder and prouder’ as 2022 quickly approaches! The real question is: who plans on tuning in and reliving their childhood?