Announced on November 9, 2017, we knew that a television series themed after the wonderful Monsters franchise was in development for the Disney+ streaming service (launching in 2019), but today we finally learn that the series will officially be titled, Monsters At Work and will be released in 2020.
Along with the exciting title, we were also thrilled to learn that the voice of Mike Wazowski, Billy Crystal, and the Sulley, John Goodman, will also reprise their roles (who else could do their characters justice) — along with a lot of other familiar voices as well.
STORY
Generating ten-times more power than screams, laughter is still the chosen power generator for Monstropolis and the show will pick up six months after the completion of Monsters, Inc. D23 notes, “We’ll follow a new monster, Tylor Tuskmon (voiced by Superstore’s Ben Feldman), an enthusiastic and talented mechanic on the Monsters, Inc. Facilities Team (MIFT) who dreams of following in the footsteps of his idols—Mike and Sulley—and making his way up to the factory Laugh Floor as a Jokester.”
Side Note – Get some additional thoughts on Monsters At Work in our video summary as well.
RETURNING CHARACTERS
We were thrilled to see such a great voice cast return to the project
- Mike Wazowski — voiced by Billy Crystal
- Sulley — voiced by John Goodman
- Celia Mae (Schmoopsie-poo herself will return) — voiced by Jennifer Tilly
- Needleman & Smitty — voiced by Stephan Stanton (originally voiced by Dan Gerson)
- Yeti — voiced by none other than, John Ratzenberger
NEW CHARACTERS
- Bernard — also voiced by John Ratzenberger
- Cutter (a staunchly rule-abiding monster) — voiced by Alanna Ubach
- Duncan (an opportunistic plumber) — voiced by Lucas Neff
- Fritz (a scatterbrained boss) — voiced by Henry Winkler (The “Fonz” himself)
- Roze (Twin Sister of Roz) — voiced by Bob Peterson
- Millie Tuskmon (Tylor’s Mother)— voiced by Aisha Tyler
- Tylor Tuskmon — voiced by Ben Feldman
- Val Little (Tylor’s best friend) — voiced by Kelly Marie Tran
That’s not a typo listed above, Bob Peterson will be voicing Roz’s twin Sister, Roze. We can’t wait to see what’s up her sleeve and how much she’ll still be keeping on eye—or, “watching”—Mike Wazowski. We wish that Dan Gerson could have voiced the hilarious Needleman and Smitty as he did in Monsters, Inc., but Mr. Gerson sadly passed away in 2016. We were also excited to see the return of Alanna Ubach (who voiced Mama Imelda in Coco) and Lucas Neff (who was the original voice of Arlo in The Good Dinosaur before the film was restructured).
DIRECTING / PRODUCTION
Being Pixar fans, we wished the show could have produced at Pixar Animation Studios to preserve the full Pixar feel, but with the team assembled at Disney Television Animation, we’re excited to see the show in all its (we’re sure) hilarity. Most excitingly, we were thrilled to see Rob Gibbs will be one of the Directors attached to the project along with Kat Good. Rob has worked at a story artist on Monsters, Inc. and countless other Pixar projects, including Directing many of the Cars Toons.
The show will be executive produced by Roberts Gannaway and produced by Ferrell Barron.
Stay tuned to Pixar Post for the latest news surrounding the exciting new television series as well as Disney+.
Pixar Post — T.J.