Mike Judge on bringing Beavis and Butt-Head into middle age for new show : 'They just dumb old guys'

Mike Judge can't stay away from Beavis and Butt-Head. Ever since the two dim-witted slackers debuted on MTV in the early '90s, they've become cultural icons, sparking a 1996 film and a 2011 TV reboot. Now, the two are returning to screens for the first time in more than a decade, first with the film Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe, which premiered in June, and next with a new animated TV series, which will debut Aug. 4 on Paramount+.

"They kind of come back to haunt me every now and then," Judge told EW at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday. "I don't actually do those voices in my spare time or unless I have to. But the characters kind of linger."

Like Do the Universe, the show will find Beavis and Butt-Head grappling with the modern world of 2022 despite remaining the same snickering teenagers. Judge still voices both characters, and he also teased that the series will include a few episodes following Beavis and Butt-Head as grumpy, middle-aged men — a goofy concept he's always wanted to explore.

"Writing that, once it clicked, it's been really fun for me," he says. "I always had a hard time imagining them getting from 15 to being middle-aged, that in-between part. But once they're just dumb old guys, that's always made sense to me."

Paramount+ 'Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head'

The Silicon Valley co-creator and Office Space writer/director also explained the new show's title: In the '90s, the series was officially billed as MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head, but when the new version premieres on Paramount+, it'll be called Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head.

"Beavis and Butt-Head started with me animating a two-minute short, and then a second one that was like three minutes," Judge explains. "[I made it] in my house, by myself, with nobody. My ex-wife helped out a little bit, but there was no [one else]. And then MTV came along, and it did irk me a little bit that it was called MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head."

So, when Judge started weighing a potential reboot, his manager suggested a new name. "I was like, why not?" the creator adds with a laugh. "If it was already MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head, I'll take that spot."

Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head will debut Aug. 4 on Paramount+. Watch the full interview with Judge above.

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