The award-winning animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is set to return later this week for its second season. The super-genius teen hero and her Jurassic best pal are ready for more crime fighting and protecting her neighborhood of the Lower East Side.
When we last left Lunella Lafayette, she was in a precarious situation. The season one cliffhanger of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur found her separated from her friends and family. As we head into the new season, we spoke with executive producer Steve Loter and co-executive producer Rodney Clouden to hear their approach and thoughts on where to take our hero next.
Previously, we watched Lunella become her alter ego, Moon Girl. “In season two, it’s about her being the superhero and that brings a whole new set of rules and conflict to the table. For instance, now that she’s a public figure, all these villains have leveled up against her,” Loter said. ” She has a huge impacted conflict between trying to have her superhero life and her family life and how they are starting to collide. And because of all the stress and strain she’s going through. It is taking the friendships and testing those as well.”
With all those leveled up villains, Lunella also begins to ponder her own limitations as a superhero. In the season two premiere of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, she crosses paths with Edward James Olmos’ Molecule Man.
Loter said, “She encounters Molecule Man who is easily the most formidable villain that she has ever come across and I think that affects her deeply knowing that her superpower is her brain, but with someone that has this magical ability, that it might not be enough. At least she thinks that early on in the season. It’s a journey for Lunella to discover who she is as the superhero and what that means to impact her life.”
In addition to Olmos, the new season has a talented cast of guest stars. “Xolo [Maridueña], whom you may recognize from Cobra Kai and Blue Beetle, in particular really brought this light-hearted energy to Kid Cree,” Loter shared. Clouden commented on how Maridueña captured the teen awkwardness, especially when it comes to Kid Cree and Lunella’s dynamic. He also teased how both characters’ love of science could lead to a deeper connection between the two. Is there some young romance on the horizon?
As great as Maridueña’s Kid Cree is, Clouden mentions another antagonist as his top Moon Girl baddie. “My favorite is Dr. Peter Weller’s character. He is what we call a villain of a particular episode, but he’s not a supervillain,” Clouden revealed. “He’s more of a street level person that Lunella has to learn how to deal with in terms of personality. Not every villain is a grand supervillain but sometimes it’s a regular person and how do you deal with that certain situation and personality.”
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is considered complementary to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) occupying its own space, but also having some actors voice animated versions of their live-action roles. There are no official plans for Lunella and Devil Dinosaur to join the MCU, but what if they eventually make their way into the shared superhero universe?
“I would be overjoyed. I think that it was important to show the representation to the public,” Loter confessed. “For that to just carry on from the comic to an animated show to a live-action show would be absolutely incredible. Mission would be achieved in a big way.”
Clouden even described a possible way Moon Girl could contribute with her potential live-action counter parts. “I would love to see Lunella in the MCU hanging out with Shuri and Riri Williams creating some kind of science project or machine that saves the world, collaborating. It would be good to see that and have that representation.”
That would definitely be exciting to watch someday, but for now, we can stick with the animated version.
Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur premieres February 2 on Disney Channel and Disney XD, and next day on Disney+.
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