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Expect more of the same, with a twist when Veronica Mars returns to life on Hulu.
The cult-hit series, which previously returned on the big screen following its three-season TV run, is back for a new miniseries in summer 2019 and series creator Rob Thomas and star Kristen Bell are staying true to what fans loved about the series, Hulu’s Craig Erwich said at the 2019 Television Critics Association winter press tour.
“I think on Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas who is the steward of the franchise, has really threaded the needle, from what I’ve seen of the show, it is very true to the character, it is very true to the world, it is true to the tone of the show and what made people fall in love with the show,” Erwich, senior vice president of originals at Hulu, said.
“But this is definitely an update. She is not a little girl anymore, you will see her dealing with contemporary issues in a contemporary world,” Erwich told press.
Hulu screened a teaser clip of Veronica Mars for the press in the room, but won’t be releasing it wide. In the clip, Veronica (Bell) was investigating a crime scene. Her trademark voiceover was present.
Find out what else we know about the new season of Veronica Mars below.
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Dick’s Back
Ryan Hansen will return as Dick Casablancas in the new series. His involvement was confirmed by TVLine, which reports he’ll recur on the series. It was only a matter of time Hansen signed on, as David Starzyk was already confirmed as returning as Dick’ dad.
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Papa Mars
Enrico Colantoni will return Veronica Mars as the titular character’s father, Keith Mars. TVLine reports Colantoni will be a series regular on the Hulu miniseries.
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The Premiere Date
The new series is eight episodes and will premiere in 2019, production begins in November, according to Kristen Bell. As part of the deal between Warner Bros. and Hulu, all three seasons of the original show and the 2014 movie will be available to stream summer of 2019.
Joining Thomas and Bell as executive producers are original series veterans Diane Ruggiero-Wright and Dan Etheridge. Thomas is penning the first script. The writers room also includes David Walpert, Heather V. Regnier, Raymond Obstfeld and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Yes, that Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The only Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
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The Story
The official logline: “Spring breakers are getting murdered in Neptune, thereby decimating the seaside town’s lifeblood tourist industry. After Mars Investigations is hired by the parents of one of the victims to find their son’s killer, Veronica is drawn into an epic eight-episode mystery that pits the enclave’s wealthy elites, who would rather put an end to the month-long bacchanalia, against a working class that relies on the cash influx that comes with being the West Coast’s answer to Daytona Beach.”
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Returning Faces?
Series creator Rob Thomas took to Twitter to reveal who else has signed on to the cast so far. In addition to Bell, there’s Jason Dohring (Logan), Percy Daggs III (Wallace), David Starzyk (Dick Casablancas’ dad) and Francis Capra (Weevil). Enrico Colantoni, Chris Lowell, Ryan Hansen, Tina Majorino also starred in the original series.
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This Isn’t a Book Adaptation
The events of the series start five years after the movie. And if you think the plot sounds familiar that’s because there was a similar one in the novel The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, a book that came out after the movie co-written by Thomas. “Like The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, the mini-series will be set against a Spring Break backdrop, but TDTL is NOT the story we’re telling. We’re five years after the movie. Books are 98% canon. Pony is included. Marcia Langdon is police chief. Spoiler: Neptune finally incorporated,” Thomas tweeted.
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Nostalgia? So 2014
On Twitter, Thomas reiterated what he previously told E! News. “I will say this: the movie was nostalgic. The Hulu limited series isn’t going to be. Hardcore So-Cal noir. One big case. Eight episodes to tell the story. This is a detective show.”
“If we get to do it again…I think the way to make it survive is to—If the movie was kind of a love letter to the fans, anything that comes from now on, I think, is going to be about the kickass mystery…If we get to do it again, that’s what I want to deliver,” Thomas told E! News in summer of 2018. “I want to make Veronica the first name in female detectives. I have no designs on supplanting Sherlock Holmes, but I would really love Veronica Mars to be—when I think female detectives, that’s who I think of.”
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It’s Getting Real
“It’s going to be a much darker world, it’s going to be a bigger world. It’s definitely not going to be what we did on UPN or The CW. So, I want to brace fans for that, that it’s going to be darker and bigger and more cinematic, and definitely a little bit different,” Bell said on EW Radio.
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Veronica Mars Forever?
In the world of remakes and reboots, Thomas plans to stick to reviving Veronica Mars.
“What I’m hoping for is that after I retire, some quality young writer wants to remake it and send me checks that’s the dream there,” Thomas told E! News. “I can’t imagine doing it without Kristen in my professional lifetime. I mean, never say never, but I think if I’m not doing it with Kristen, it means that Kristen no longer wants to do it. And Kristen has said she’s willing to do it until it’s Murder, She Wrote. As long as she holds to that, then I think I want to keep doing the Kristen Bell version, if there’s an opportunity.”
Bell is sticking by that. “I mean until literally everyone in Neptune is dead,” Bell joked. “As long as we feel there’s a hunger for Veronica Mars and the world still needs to see her fight the good fight and it still feels topical,” she said on EW Radio.
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Veronica Mars will premiere in summer 2019 on Hulu.
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