On Wednesday, Disney+ announced that Mindy Kaling (The Office, The Mindy Project) would join the all-new cast of monsters in their upcoming animated series and Monster’s Inc. spin-off, Monsters at Work. Deadline reported on the casting update and added that Bonnie Hunt (The Green Mile, Jumanji) will return to the franchise in her Monster’s Inc. role as Ms. Flint.
Hunt joins returning Monster’s Inc. cast members John Goodman (Roseanne, The Big Lebowski), Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally…, Soap), John Ratzenberger (Cheers, Toy Story), Jennifer Tilly (Bride of Chucky, Family Guy) and Bob Peterson (Up, Finding Nemo) in the spin-off set directly after the events of the original film. Monsters at Work will follow “an eager young monster who graduated top of his class at Monsters University and always dreamed of becoming Scarer until he lands a job at Monsters, Incorporated, and discovers that scaring is out and laughter is in” (Deadline).
Ben Feldman (Superstore, Mad Men) lends his voice to Monsters at Work’s protagonist, Tylor Tuskmon, and is joined by Henry Winkler (Happy Days, Barry), Aisha Tyler (Archer, The Talk), Lucas Neff (Raising Hope, Carol’s Second Act), Alanna Ubach (Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, Coco) and Stephen Stanton (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Tom and Jerry Show). Kaling’s excitable character, Val Little, marks the newest addition to Tuskmon’s Monsters, Inc. Facilities Team (MIFT). According to Deadline, Tuskmon gets reassigned to the MIFT at the beginning of the series, where he’ll adjust his expectations about his new job at Monsters, Incorporated.
Multiple sources, including Variety, originally reported that Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, Raya and the Last Dragon) would voice Val Little in Monsters at Work. While there has been no official statement from Disney as to the reason for the casting change, it’s likely that COVID-19 related delays caused scheduling conflict, which has been a common occurrence during the 2020-2021 recent television season.
Monsters at Work is one of two established animated franchises to which Kaling will lend her voice acting talents this year. Scooby-Doo spin-off Velma on HBO Max will feature Kaling as both the titular protagonist and the series’ Executive Producer. Kaling’s rounding-out banner year by serving as Executive Producer on HBO Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls and season two of her hit coming-of-age series Never Have I Ever on Netflix.
According to Collider, Monsters at Work, which was set to premiere on Disney+ in 2020 prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, will make its debut on July 2 at the streamer.