‘Phineas and Ferb’ Creators Discuss the Fun Summer Return of Disney’s Beloved Step-Bros!

This article was written for the May-June ’25 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 350).

“I would like to see people embrace that ‘no jerks and idiots’ type of storytelling because our world could really use a good dose of kindness and positivity right now!”

— Co-creator Jeff “Swampy” Marsh

Back in the summer of 2007, Disney Channel audiences were introduced to two very likable stepbrothers name Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher who tried to make the most of their summer vacation(s). This year, the resourceful brothers, their secret-agent pet platypus Perry and their annoying tattletale sis Candace are all back for more adventures in a fun-filled new season of Phineas and Ferb.

The show’s original creators and exec producers Dan Povenmire and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh (who also voice Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz and Maj. Francis Monogram, respectively, on the series) recently chatted with Animation Magazine about the big return of their five-time Emmy-winning series.

“I think what happened was that kids and maybe some older viewers found Phineas and Ferb again on Disney+ during the pandemic,” says Povenmire. “It became their comfort show during that time. So, Disney came to us and said the show is always in the top five shows on the streamer. Would you guys like to make some more for us? We had done this movie for them in 2020, which had also outperformed a lot of things with much bigger budgets, and we said, ‘Of course!’ because we’re always interested in doing more with these characters. They asked for 40 more episodes, and luckily, we were able to make our schedules work!”

No Fixes Required!

He adds, “They literally said we don’t think it’s broken, so you don’t have to fix it. But that being said, you have the autonomy to do with it whatever you want. We were like, ‘Well, we don’t think it’s broken either, but there’s a bunch of new stories we’d love to tell,’ so that’s what we did!”

Marsh says that the great thing about this new offer was that they weren’t asked to reinvent the premise or change the designs of the original show. “They just liked what the show was, and they wanted more of what made it special,” he says.

“I’m proudest of the fact that it just feels like the old show, but in a lot of ways, a lot of episodes feel like we’ve elevated it in a certain way. It doesn’t feel like a reimagining,” adds Povenmire. “Our goal was if you’re watching this on Disney+ and you finished the fourth season and went straight to Season 5, you wouldn’t notice a glitch at all. It just feels right. A lot of big things happen through the course of a season, but we’re not a serialized show. Mostly, things happen, and then it all goes back to zero and we start again.”

Marsh adds, “As much as the world has changed since we came up with the idea for the show, kids are still smarter than everybody thinks they are!”

The origin of Phineas and Ferb is now the stuff of TV animation lore: Povenmire and Marsh first met when they were layout artists on The Simpsons. They became good friends and were working on Nickelodeon’s Rocko’s Modern Life when they came up with the basic premise for Phineas and Ferb. Povenmire drew a quick sketch of a kid with a triangle-shaped head on butcher paper one day as he was eating in a Pasadena restaurant. Soon, the creators decided to base their characters on angular shapes as an homage to Tex Avery. Although Nickelodeon, Fox Kids and Cartoon Network turned down their initial pitches for the show, Disney said yes to the idea almost 16 years later.

Povenmire recalls, “When we first started out, we had no idea where anybody would watch this show, and now we have people who are like chomping at the bit for new episodes, so that makes us very happy!”

The show creators say they were also lucky because they were able to get most of the original cast — which includes Vincent Martella, Ashley Tisdale, Dee Bradley Baker and Caroline Rhea — for the revival. “When we hired the kids’ voices, they were already doing their version of their voices,” recalls Povenmire. “Phineas was 14, so Vincent was giving us a cartoon voice to match the character. As he got older, his voice changed, but he could still do the voice. So we were very fortunate, because I’ve been on kids’ shows where they had to recast every three or four years because somebody grew up and they sounded like an adult!”

The show’s familiar animation is being handled by the hardworking and talented team at Snipple Animation in Manila, Philippines. “They did the best work for our recent Phineas and Ferb movie. We had very few retakes with them, so they took the whole show this time,” says Marsh.

“I’m proudest of the fact that it just feels like the old show, but in many ways, a lot of the episodes feel like we’ve elevated it in a certain way.”

— Co-creator Dan Povenmire

The producers point out that the show’s 10-person writers’ room (which includes Povenmire and Marsh) is made up of people who worked on the original series and those who grew up on Phineas and Ferb. “We have a guy on our staff [Sunny Karnan] who is like a walking encyclopedia of the show, so we don’t even have to check Wiki if we can’t remember when something happened,” says Povenmire. “We just have to ask Sunny because he knows everything about the show.”

“Olivia Olson, who voiced Vanessa on the show, is now in our writers’ room with her dad, Martin, who has also been with us the whole time,” says Marsh. “We also have two writers on the show who were part of our storyboard team, so they have experience in all phases of the production. They know when the board artists can play and know how to write for that. They also know how not to leave things too open-ended!”

Saying No to AI Oatmeal

When asked about the dangers of AI in animation, Marsh and Povenmire both feel strongly about the limitations of the technology. “I think it’s a dangerous, slippery slope,” says Povenmire. “I saw a trailer for a movie the other day that I thought was for real. It looked like a live-action version of Invincible. It had all these big actors and looked cool and cinematic, but the scenes were very brief and not a lot seemed to be happening. That’s what AI seems to be good at.”

Marsh also points out that AI seems to result in very safe and homogenous storytelling. “If we had followed those safe and predictable paths, Phineas and Ferb would never happen,” he says. “People were telling us that we had made mistakes in the concept for the show. Their logic seemed sound. They said we won’t be able to do 26 episodes with our main characters. AI also leads people away from weird and quirky content. It makes nice plain oatmeal, but I like mine with fruit and brown sugar.”

“This one person, who we think is really brilliant, told us that the problem with our show was that our characters don’t have any flaws, never do anything wrong on purpose, and they don’t have character arcs,” Povenmire recalls. “But we weren’t writing that kind of a show. What our two main characters are doing is not the story — they are almost like the setting. The story is what Candace and Perry and Doofenshmirtz are doing.”

The creators mention the popular John Hughes’ movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as an inspiration for their series. “That movie was one of the models for our show, because just like Ferris, our boys are a catalyst for other people’s journeys,” notes Marsh. “It’s that same spirit of unending positivity. That’s what other people are reacting to around them. I think that’s why it all works.”

And what do they hope the show’s return will mean for audiences around the world? “I hope they feel as if Phineas and Ferb is back, and that it’s exactly how they remember it. There’s just newer, fresher episodes,” says Povenmire.

Marsh agrees. “I would like to see more people embrace that ‘no jerks and idiots’ type of storytelling, because our world could really use a good dose of kindness and positivity right now!”

Phineas and Ferb’s new season premieres on Disney Channel and Disney XD on June 5. The first 10 episodes will then begin streaming on June 6 on Disney+.