Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish) will voice the lead role in MTV’s Jodie, the Daria spinoff series that was originally titled Daria & Jodie, TheWrap has confirmed.
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Jodie is a reimagining of the MTV 1990 feminist series Daria. Written and created by Grace Edwards (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Inside Amy Schumer), the iconic animated franchise is reinvented through the eyes of one of Daria Morgendorffer’s closest friends Jodie Landon. Jodie is a fan-favorite African American character from the original series credited with helping to shape a generation of women.
The new series will follow the character “as she comes into her own and enters the workplace in her first post-college job in tech.”
“I am thrilled to bring this project to life with MTV, both as executive producer and by voicing Jodie’s character,” Ross said. “Being able to give voice to fresh, feminist and unexplored stories of young women excites me. Jodie, will spin-off from the cult classic Daria, and with the brilliant, sweet and sarcastic black girl magic that is Jodie Landon, we will feature a diverse cast, comprised mainly of unapologetically smart and ambitious young female characters who are vulnerable and flawed and interesting and funny. As a very cool bonus, Jodie will be the first adult animated show in almost 20 years that will star a black woman. It will be a smart, funny workplace comedy full of commentary about everything from gentrification to sex to tech to call-out culture.”
“Given the passion for these characters, there was only one person who could build upon the legacy to reimagine Jodie for a whole new generation, and that person is Tracee Ellis Ross. This marks another exciting step forward for MTV Studios as we build out a wide new slate based on the rich characters from the history in MTV Animation,” added president of MTV Chris McCarthy.
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Ross will also serve as executive producer on the series alongside MTV’s Trevor Rose, Morgana Rosenberg, and Amy Doyle.
