Way back in December of last year, we brought you word that Disney XD’sDuckTalesreboot castwould be led byDavid Tennantas Scrooge McDuck, joined byDanny Pudi,Ben Schwartz, andBobby Moynihanas Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Also starring in the modern take on the classic animated series will beBeck Bennettas Launchpad McQuack, withToks Olagundoyeas housekeeper Mrs. Beakley, andKate Micuccias Webby Vanderquack. But now a duck-load of new cast members and their characters have emerged!
EWhad the reveal ofDuckTalescast and characters along with new images to show off their designs. They also had a chance to chat with co-producerFrancisco Angonesabout the reboot, due to hit the network this August. Here’s how he envisions the new, adventurous series:
“One of the things we always loved about the old show was that it was this family of adventurers, but the emphasis in every episode had always been on the adventure and plotline. The basic conceit of growing our show was that this is a big blended family of adventurers, so it should feel like a combination ofIndiana Jonesand a blendedArrested Development-style family sitcom where every character has a different relationship to one another.”
Some of those adventures will include mysteries such as the divide that occurred between Scrooge and Donald; the ages of Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and their personality traits; just to name a couple. The modern reboot also gives Webby a bit more to work with and by extension Micucci can bring more to her performance. Read up about all of that and more over on EW.
Here’s a look at the new cast and who they’ll be playing whenDuckTalesarrives on Disney XD this August:
Donald Duck
Angones commented on Donald’s bump up to the main cast:
“He’s been a single parent obsessively taking care of the boys, and he’s a little bit overprotective and doesn’t want to take a lot of risks, whereas so much of Scrooge’s success is based on the fact that he’s willing to take risks. In our world, about 10 years ago, Scrooge and Donald used to go on these big, crazy, rip-roaring adventures, and then they stopped talking to each other, to the point where when we start our show, Huey, Dewey, and Louie don’t even know that the richest duck in the world and this legendary explorer is their great uncle.”
Gladstone Gander
Angones shared his thoughts on this nemesis (you can tell by the eyebrows):
“The great thing about Gladstone is that since Donald is fundamentally unlucky, Gladstone is supernaturally lucky, and so Scrooge and Donald can both agree that they hate Gladstone because he does nothing and gets everything.”
Fun fact: Gladstone’s father’s name is Goosetave Gander, if you needed to hate this family more.
Gyro Gearloose
Scrooge’s whackadoo mad scientist shifts styles from hippie to hipster in the modern reboot. Let’s hope we’re going to see some more zany chicken science from him in the future! In the meantime, Gyro’s intern Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera (Lin-Manuel Miranda) will split his time between the lab and defending Duckburg as the superheroGizmoduck.
In an earlier interview, Angones said, “Growing up as a Cuban-American comics enthusiast, I was always hungry for a Latino hero to call my own. In developing the new series, Matt and I leapt at the opportunity to adapt ‘DuckTales” marquee hero into a young scientist character with Latin-inspired roots.”
Executive producerMatt Youngbergsaid, “Lin came to mind instantly for the role of Gizmoduck. His rapid-fire earnestness paired with his wide-eyed yet determined optimism made him the perfect person to yell ‘BLATHERING BLATHERSKITE!'”
Goldie O’Gilt
Scrooge (and Tennant) are excited for adventure and paramour O’Gilt’s return to the series. Angones said:
“In our adaptation, Scrooge is more of an adventure junkie than a gold addict, so we kept saying, ‘Well, if Scrooge is like Batman, then Goldie should be like Catwoman,’ She’s equally adventurous, every bit Scrooge’s equal, and he hates and loves that. They have this amazingly contentious relationship that’s been going on ages and ages, spanning back to the Gold Rush days.”
Ma Beagle and the Beagle Boys
As happy as I am to see the return of these antagonists and their matriarch, I’m doubly excited to see the amazing Margo Martindale voicing Ma Beagle. That’s inspired (the most inspired casting of Martindale sinceBoJack Horsemanto say the least) and should make Ma one imposing villain!
Flintheart Glomgold
Here’s how Angones describes the Scottish billionaire counterpart to Scrooge:
“Glomgold is bigger, faster, and cheaper. An in-joke we had for him was that originally in the comics, he was South African, and then they made him Scottish in [the original]DuckTales, so we really leaned into that and decided that when Glomgold saw that Scrooge was a Scottish billionaire, he decided to be the cheap knock-off. More Scottish and evenricher.”
Mark Beaks
Known most recently for playing the endlessly lucky and empty-headed Nelson ‘Big Head’ Bighetti on HBO’sSilicon Valley, Brener will bring a new type of modern billionaire into Duckburg:
“We had a bunch of old money billionaires — Scrooge is the oldest money, this billionaire of the industrial revolution, and we have Glomgold — so we included somebody who’s representative of today’s billionaires, which is the tech industry billionaire,” says Youngberg.
“Mark Beaks doesn’t care as much about money as he cares about status and being buzzworthy and how many followers he has.” Angones adds, “Josh Brener was so incredibly on all the time, selling and pitching. He’s a character who’s so broad and over the top, you love to be annoyed by him.”
