Image Source: Wikipedia, Deadline

The Proud Family last came out to Disney around fifteen years ago, and the show will now pick up right where they left things back in the time. With the exception of adding a few modern elements to the Louder and Prouder family, the series will show the characters to be just about the same age as before. 

Explaining why Ralph Farquhar decided to bring the show back after these many years, the producer explained, "The truth is Bruce, and I never understood why it stopped being on air, so we've been begging, cajoling - doing everything we could to get Disney to bring the show back."

"And then lo and behold, almost 18 years later, we get a call. "Hey, you guys want to bring it back?" We said yes," he revealed. "It was just without question. We just dropped whatever we were doing and said, "Okay, this is what we're gonna do." I mean, Bruce turned down a job with Obama. I'm not lying! I'm not making this up."

He added that anytime for the show to begin airing again would be a great time for its reintroduction, and he thinks that show will especially appeal to people in the modern age today. He said that The Proud Family will make a great watch for people today. 

Though the show will pick off with the same characters at the same age instead of showing their grown-up versions, a few of the cast members will be replaced by other actors. The show will also have several more children. 

"Ralph and I talked about expanding the universe, and we needed to bring in more kids," said Bruce Smith. "So, we brought Maya and KG in as new kids who just moved down the street. And their parents - actually, you don't want to forget about those - are Zachary Quinto and Billy Porter. They play a same-sex couple, husband and husband, who actually have these two adopted kids."

The character of Maya, who is a 14-year-old child, will be played by Keke Palmer. The child is described to be a "very level-headed and conscious" kid. "The first time she meets Penny, she's very protective of just letting people in her world. We thought that having a true voice of conscience would play well against Penny and would help expand her world and her thinking. Penny has always thought that she was the most conscious one in her world until Maya steps in and wiggles it a little bit."

KG will be played by Artist "A Boogie wit da Hoodie" Dubose. Appreciating the artist, Smith said, "Ralph and I marvel at just the quality of the voice that he brings to the character, that we had never really seen before or heard before in The Proud Family university. He really shapes KG, who's a gamer but has a level of depth with his use of technology and such that really helps round out their crew ultimately."

Though there will be new characters, the old kids of the series are just as important. The series will revive Michael's character, who was known to be slightly inclined towards the LGBTQ community, but the show was aired in 2000, the audience was not yet ready for such a storyline. 

"This time around, we're bolder - louder, prouder, more truth - and we wanted to really lean into the truth of who this character is under the LGBTQ umbrella."

"So, we brought in EJ. Ralph and EJ have a relationship that goes back a while, and we knew right away - just talking to EJ - that this is Michael," said Farquhar. "And we encouraged EJ, even in the recording booth, to be and define who this character is. "There's words on the page, and then there's you, right? And you're mixing in with these kids. Help us find this character."

"And that's what we do with all of our actors in the booth."

The producer also shared that the series does not strictly adhere to the script of the show and allows the actors to extend with their own ideas in the recording room. He said that the voice actors are allowed the liberty to shape and create the characters as they wish to and that in itself makes the show a great watch. 

EJ Johnson also had an interview with Screen Rant and shared what it is like to play the character that was first played by Phil LaMarr in the original series back in the 2000s. 

"I was a fan as a kid, growing up watching it when I was eight or nine, and now a part of it. I love how much the show has changed, how much room that we had to play, and the stories we get to tell," said Johnson. 

"This character could definitely not have existed back in '04 or '05, or whenever it was first out, and now we have this character who is just living unapologetically and fabulously and free and fearlessly. It's just beautiful to watch. And also, it's even more fun for me to be a part of and give it life. But, yeah, I love the whole experience."

Though Johnson is a great artist, Louder and Prouder is the first time the actor tried his hands at voice acting. Sharing that the experience was not difficult for him, he explained that he had started his novel try at acting by mimicking his "mom or friends or people I would see on TV."

"When I was watching all my favorite fairy tales, I was only in love with the villainesses - I would go around the house and sing "Poor Unfortunate Souls" in the bathtub or walk around in one of my mom's fur coats and pretend to have a cigarette and be Cruella de Vil over and over again," he admitted. "This is just really no different."

The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder will premiere on Disney+ on February 23, when its first two episodes will be released.