John Mulaney will play Henry David Thoreau in Apple TV+'s Dickinson
Our favorite tall child is getting transcendental (and perhaps a beard).
Comedian and impeccable suit-wearer John Mulaney will portray famed writer and nature boy Henry David Thoreau on Apple TV+’s Dickinson, EW has confirmed. The upcoming series is a modern, reimaged look into the youth of famed poet Emily Dickinson, played by Hailee Steinfeld.
There are currently no additional details about Mulaney’s role as the Walden author.
Dickinson seems to be Mulaney’s first foray into the world of historical fiction, but the casting may be kismet as he previously referenced the poet in a standup special. “College is just your opinion. Just you raising your hand and being like, ‘I think Emily Dickinson’s a lesbian,’ and they’re like, ‘Partial credit,'” Mulaney quipped on 2015’s The Comeback Kid.
The series is set to explore a side to Dickinson that many of us weren’t taught in school. “Perhaps they had access to sexual or sensual experiences that were beyond what we could imagine because they weren’t [pushed] into boxes,” creator Alena Smith told EW. “I was really interested in exploring regions of queerness and sexuality that maybe don’t really have names and didn’t at the time either.”
Mulaney’s casting comes after the news on Friday that Wiz Khalifa will guest star as the personification of Death on the series.
The comedian has been in a slew of projects in the past two years; he’s released a comedy special, appeared in a bunch of TV shows including Big Mouth, and voiced Spider-Ham in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Let’s hope he gets some rest and doesn’t keep burning the candles at both ends.
Dickinson premieres Nov. 1.
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