This week, fans will be able to enjoy the second season of the charming animated series Harriet the Spy on Apple TV+. The lovingly crafted 2D show is based on Louise Fitzhugh’s popular children’s novel chronicling the coming-of-age adventures of the irrepressible Harriet M. Welsch (voiced by Beanie Feldstein) and her irrepressible nanny, Ole Golly (Jane Lynch). Produced by The Jim Henson Company, the new season premieres on Friday. The show is written and exec produced by Will McRobb, produced by Sidney Clifton and animated by Titmouse Animation Studios. We had the great opportunity to chat with Harriet the Spy’s exec producer Halle Stanford, the president of TV at the Jim Henson Company, to get a sneak peek at what to expect this season. Here is what she told us:
Animation Magazine: Congrats on the arrival of the second season of your acclaimed show. Can you tell us what is new and exciting about the new episodes?
Halle Stanford: I’m very excited. As you know Henson loves to take the big swings when it comes to storytelling and visual presentation. We chose to do a period piece set in 1964, which no one was doing in animation for kids. We’re going to see more of that year, we visit the World Fair and lots of exciting set pieces. One of the things that I love the most about it personally is that Harriet comes into her own as an artist. We watch with the evolution of her as an artist which culminates with her as a newspaper columnist for the school paper. There’s something wonderful in that kind of creative story that I think is very unique to this show.
She is also going to do some growing up as she is that magical age of 12 (which is the age my own son is right now!). They have one foot in childhood and one foot in teenhood and it’s this constant push and pull, which is something both girls and boys can really identify with. Harriet will also see her potentially saying good-bye to her nanny who has helped raise her. She’s going to learn to be independent. I think the audience is going to enjoy watching the emerging teen in Harriet grow. We always honor the essence of Louise Fitzhugh’s amazing, subversive books series. And yes, I think everybody who has seen the movie is familiar with Harriet’s journal getting discovered with all her cheeky and frank observations about the kids in her life, so we’re going to do that story and unroll it over a couple of episodes. They’re going to see it in a whole different way in our series and it’s pretty great so I’m excited to do a little bit of that nostalgic story from the from the original series.
Is the great 2D animation still done by Titmouse?
Yes, they’ve done a fantastic job. As you know, we wanted to do kind of a jumping-off point from the book’s original illustrations, so Titmouse did that in the first season and created this beautiful, excited and colorful version of New York City, circa 1964. They’re definitely delivering on that again. The Titmouse team in New York, as well as the overseas division, really created this love story to the city. We had the same team on board. It was a real privilege to work with them.
Can you tell us about some of the feedback you got from the first season which meant a lot to you?
Harriet has been beloved by generations of readers, so that you hear about that love from those readers through social media and through personal stories. The thing is that Harriet was so inspiring to so many writers so in our industry and in our community. People would come to me and say “Oh my gosh, Harriet the Spy is the reason I am a writer. Our show runner Will McRobb will most definitely tell you that Harriet is the reason he does what he does. When he started working on the show, he went and made a tomato sandwich right outside of her supposed apartment on the Upper East Side in her honor. We have been hearing from families about how moms are getting to share their favorite episodes with their girls who are loving it. We’re also hearing from artists and writers about the impact on them. They tell us that the show has really delivered the essence of Harriet, but also made it feel like a modern cartoon for today’s audiences.
I am both a writer and show creator, but I don’t typically write on shows that I don’t create for the company. But Harriet inspired me on this show and I was very privileged to co-write an episode with Charley Feldman. Of course, the entire writing staff is incredible. As it happened, we were thinking about Harriet’s evolution as an artist in the season. I thought it would be so great if she met another kid artist, and they kind of inspire each other. My father was a very successful photographer, artist and professor. He was a real inspiration to his students. He passed away when I was only three, but I grew up with all of his art all around me. I remembered a quote of his that said something to the effect of an artist is a searching, daring and self-expressive creature who becomes interested in other people as well as himself. I thought we had to get that message in the show.
That’s why on the show, Harriet gets to meet a fictional representation of my dad at 14, who is a groovy young photographer. They meet and they inspire each other to look at their craft in a different way, and it happens as they get ready for the World Fair of 1964, the World of Tomorrow. It was very special for me as it was kind of like bringing my dad to life, and I’m very grateful too. The character (Chuck) has red hair and looks like my dad at that age, and he’s also very funny, so we had a lot of comedy in that episode too.
Has your mother seen the episode?
She hasn’t seen it yet, but the family will see it when it premieres. I would love to send it to his students as well, who are all grown up. There’s a power in Harriet that inspires you to want to tell your personal story just to like kind of express yourself in a way.
How was working on the second season different from the first?
I think that every season has its own challenges. This particular season was about Harriet growing up and how to really handle that particular storyline. Our writers knew all of their voices so you could put her in any situation and knew how she’d react. The artists at Titmouse were also in a flow creatively.
What would you love the audiences to take home from the second season of Harriet the Spy?
We’re hoping that audiences will continue just love Harriet and be excited about her journey and where she’s heading and just want to see more. I really just hope that audiences get inspired to come up with their own personal form of expression whether it’s writing or photography or film or making their own YouTube videos or whatever it is that makes them feel like they’re walking their own walk. Just like Harriet writes in her journal “I love myself.” I hope that that kind of messages comes through, and that they have a blast running around New York City with her.
We’ve already seen a lot of ups and downs in the animation world and it’s only early May. What is your take on the state of small screen animation?
Well, whether it’s animation or live-action, we’ve seen a lot of big hiccups as we came out of the pandemic. My hope is that everybody will be able to take this year to innovate, create and really start hitting the ground running. It has been a slow start for all of us and I know a lot of projects got put on hold, which is heartbreaking. But hopefully, out of that heartbreak we’ll see a lot of great innovation. I hope that both the networks and streamers start to take lots of chances, just like Apple TV+ did with us.
The second season of Harriet the Spy (10 half-hour episodes) premieres on Apple TV+ this Friday (May 5).
You can watch an exclusive clip below:
Here is the Season Two trailer:
