‘Central Park’ Renewed for Season 3 at Apple Ahead of Season 2 Premiere
“Central Park” fans, get ready to belt your hearts out: the hit animated musical comedy has been renewed for a third season by Apple TV Plus ahead of the release of Season 2.
Loren Bouchard, one of the cartoon sitcom’s trio of creators, writers and executive producers (Josh Gad, Nora Smith), announced on social media today that two more seasons of “Central Park” means twenty-nine more episodes and a whopping 115 new songs. The first season, which debuted last May on the ad-free Apple SVOD service, featured 46 original songs across its 10 episodes. “Central Park’s” recurring star-studded voice cast includes Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Daveed Diggs, Kathryn Hahn, Tituss Burgess and Stanley Tucci.
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“The people who make this show dazzle me with their talent and ambition and sheer will. And Apple and 20th have shown their will too! I’m honored to part of something with this much chutzpah,” Bouchard added.
The first three episodes of the Emmy and NAACP Image Award-nominated show’s second season will drop globally on Friday, June 25 on Apple TV Plus. New episodes will premiere weekly every Friday afterward. Season 2 follows the quirky, lovable Tillerman family as they navigate living in and caring for the world’s most famous park— all while trying to remain in harmony. Cole (Burgess) is challenged by a truly embarrassing moment at school; Paige (Hahn) continues to chase down the Mayor’s corruption story; and Owen (Odom Jr.) juggles managing the park, his staff and his family all with a smile on his face. Meanwhile, Bitsy (Tucci) inches ever closer to her sinister goal of transforming Central Park into the next Time Square, with Helen (Diggs) by her side, forever scheming ways to make it into Bitsy’s will. Friendly, fumbling, fiddling narrator Birdie (Gad) will continue to serve as the story’s songbird guide.
Emmy Raver-Lampman will now voice Molly Tillerman moving forward. The show’s creative team decided to part ways with Kristen Bell after Season 1 as an opportunity to get the representation of a mixed-race character right. News of the re-casting last June came mere hours after Jenny Slate announced that she was stepping away from voicing a character on Netflix’s “Big Mouth” for similar reasons.
Halsted Sullivan, Sanjay Shah and Janelle Momary-Neely executive produce alongside Bouchard, Gad and Smith. The series is produced for Apple by 20th Television.
Here’s a first look at one of the many songs to debut during Season 2 of Central Park. In “Weehawken Rap,” Helen (voiced by Diggs) proclaims her love for her Jersey hometown:
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