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‘Big Mouth’ Spinoff ‘Human Resources’ Adds Randall Park, Keke Palmer, Aidy Bryant (EXCLUSIVE)

Ahead of streaming a pre-recorded Studio Focus presentation as part of this year’s hybrid Annecy Animation Film Festival, Netflix has shared with Variety that “Big Mouth” stars Nick Kroll and Maya Rudolph will be joined by a star-studded lineup of new and returning voice talent in “Human Resources,” the upcoming series spinoff series of the Primetime Emmy-winning cartoon.

Franchise newcomers include “Saturday Night Live” alum Aidy Bryant, “WandaVision” and “Fresh Off the Boat” star Randall Park and Keke Palmer (“Hustlers,” “Akeelah and the Bee”), who have joined the “Human Resources” cast as series regulars. Meanwhile, the Shame Wizard voice actor David Thewlis (“Harry Potter,” “Wonder Woman”) will feature heavily in the new series, as will “Big Mouth” season four writer Brandon Kyle Goodman (“Feel the Beat”), who steps up to the mic for the spinoff.

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Hosted by “Big Mouth’s” Jay and Guy Bilzerian voice actor Jason Mantzoukas (“Brooklyn 99,” “Invincible”) – who sadly admitted he is not part of “Human Resources”… yet – the Annecy Studio Focus presentation saw the spinoff’s creators and executive producers Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, Jennifer Flackett and showrunner Kelly Galuska share early plot details of the upcoming series. They were also visited briefly by Park, who shared a first-look image of his character, a Logic Rock named Pete.

“I’m very much a logic rock,” Park said when asked if he related to any of the monsters from the “Human Resources” world. “I felt like this part was written for me, was it? I’m very logical, organized, clean. Pete does everything by the book like me. He has rock hard abs…” he trailed off to laughter from the panel.

Spinning off from the wildly popular “Big Mouth,” “Human Resources” takes place in the supernatural home world of “Big Mouth” hormone monsters Maurice and Connie, voiced by Kroll and Rudolph, the latter having won a Primetime Emmy for her work on the show. In the far more adult world of the monsters, also inhabited by the Shame Wizards, Depression Kitties and a host of other species which guide humanity through the various stages of life from puberty to childbirth and into our autumn years, the creatures themselves will be the show’s main protagonists.

“You have these characters that represent a major force in the human condition,” Kroll explained of the major difference in creating the two shows. “The challenge has been that these characters don’t only function according to the one thing they do professionally. The Logic Rock is filled with a lot of emotion and love and that defies his nature. Building out the characters in that complex way has been a joy.”

Two clips set in the world of the upcoming show were shared during the panel, one early animatic which played out like an actual HR video for a corporate job, introducing the viewer to the world of “Human Resources,” and the other a brief scene from the “Big Mouth” season five finale in which Nick returns to the “Human Resources” office to lodge a complaint about the miserable lineup of emotional monsters he’s been stuck with so far.

“Human Resources” will be animated by “Big Mouth” animators Titmouse, makers of popular and award-winning fare such as 2021 Annecy competition productions “Ballmasterz: 9009” and “Kinderwood,” as well as Netflix’s “The Midnight Gospel” and a swathe of other high-profile titles.

The “Human Resources” quartet of creator/EPs recently formed their own animation production company, Brutus Pink, and signed a deal with Netflix for the company to create and develop a range of adult-aimed animated projects for film and TV, emblematic of Netflix’s commitment to the rapidly growing field of adult animation.

Netflix has grown and evolved its adult animation offerings off the back of its popular and award-winning first adult original “Bojack Horseman,” and this year’s Annecy panel is a testament to the increasing diversity the streamer will offer going forward. In addition to “Human Resources,” Netflix is also sharing early details on “Inside Job,” showrun by “Gravity Falls” and “Regular Show” writer Shion Takeuchi and produced by “Gravity Falls” creator Alex Hirsch, and stop-motion series “The House” from U.K. animation house Nexus Studios.

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