Nearly two years since making a star-studded voice cast announcement for the project, MTV Entertainment has confirmed that it will not go ahead with Jodie, opening it up to other outlets. Originally picked up by Comedy Central in 2020 as a spin-off series from the ’90s animated favorite Daria (itself a spin-off of Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-head), the concept was being reworked as a movie.
Jodie was created by Grace Edwards, billed as head writer and showrunner in the series announcement, and was to voice star Tracee Ellis Ross as the titular character as she leaves behind Lawndale and the pressures of being “the perfect African-American teen.” The story was to center on Jodie’s experience moving to a gentrifying city to work for a mysterious tech giant.
An MTVE Studios spokesperson told Deadline, “Jodie will not be moving forward at MTVE Studios. We have loved working with Tracee, Grace and the whole team on creating a film that is full of joy and genre-bending fun with an inclusive, diverse, and incredible cast. We are fully supportive of them finding a home elsewhere and look forward to partnering with them in the future.”
Edwards was also executive producing the project alongside Ross and Ashley Kohler of Awesome Inc. The voice cast announced in 2022 included Pamela Adlon, Cole Escola, William Jackson Harper, Zosia Mamet, Kal Penn, Dulcé Sloan and more.
[Deadline]
