by One significant alteration for Lunella Lafayette in Season 2 of her animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was disclosed by producers Steve Loter and Rodney Clouden.
The 13-year-old super genius and her pet T-Rex had a great Genesis narrative in Season 1, which effectively introduced the crazy idea to viewers. But in the process, they had to make some radical adjustments, one of which was to disregard her initial Inhuman feature.
With no way out and Lunella being swept into a doorway to the unknown, Season 1 concluded on an enormous cliffhanger. She will return, but she will do so with renewed vigor and determination.
A Significant Shift For Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Executive Producers Steve Loter and Rodney Clouden talked about a significant shift Lunella Lafayette will experience in Season 2 in an exclusive conversation with The Direct’s Russ Milheim.
While the first season of the program focused on Lunella as a young girl training to become a superhero, Loter indicated that the upcoming episodes will feature her as a fully realized superhero facing superhero-related challenges:
“Well, Season 1 of the ‘Moon Girl’ was about [Lunaella] Lafayette becoming a superhero. Season 2 is about her being a superhero. So it’s a lot of different challenges. One, because now that the public knows her, the villains are leveling up against her. The conflicts between her superhero life and her family life is coming to a head because trying to keep the secret is extremely stressful for a 13-year-old or for anybody, frankly.”
“Her friendships are put to the test,” he went on to say.
“And her friendships are put to the test because of all of this conflict going on around her. So it’s a big season for Lunella Lafayette, but we still have plenty of comedy and plenty of music. But yeah, it’s gonna be a journey.”
The removal of Lunella’s Inhuman ancestry, a DNA characteristic that connects her to characters from Marvel Comics such as Black Bolt, Medusa, Ms. Marvel, and other characters, was one of the major alterations she made when the program debuted.
Why, though, would you make such adjustments? Loter admitted that they felt like that would have “pulled away from her relatability:”
“Well, I mean… media that gets translated from one form to another is gonna go through, probably, you know, some pretty drastic changes depending on what kind of story you want to tell. And there was definitely a direction we wanted to go with this show with a relatable 13-year-old old, and I felt like that issue was something where it kind of pulled away from her relatability as an everyday superhero whose superpower is her brain.”
The producer talked about how Loter admitted that they felt like that would have “Marvel has been an incredible partner through all of this:” even if they decided to exclude a significant portion of the character from her source material.
“So we definitely pulled, you know, some aspects from the comics because we love it, but we definitely went our own way in other directions to make sure that it worked for this medium. And Marvel has been an incredible partner through all of this because they’ve understood why we’re changing and what direction we were going.”
Fans will meet Molecule Man, played by Edward James Olmos, in Season 2. Loter characterizes the character as having experienced “a lot of loss,” which makes him “somewhat of a relatable character:”
“Well, in all the episodes we’ve ever done for the show, we’ve always kind of started with the relatable human emotion, thematically, so is this episode about jealousy and patience, anger, fear. And then we found the right villain to kind of complement her story. Molecule Man is a really interesting character because the character has gone through, certainly in the first episode, a lot of loss, and he’s somewhat of a relatable character.”
About Molecule Man, the producer said, “It’s the rage of injustice that drives his villainy:” Molecule Man is “easily the most dangerous character Lunella has ever faced.”
“But it’s the rage of injustice that really drives his villainy. So, with Edward James Olmos’ performance on there, that character is definitely a force to be reckoned with. [He’s] easily the most dangerous character Lunella has ever faced, and I think it has a long-lasting impact on her, and definitely, she’s shaken by her encounter with Molecule Man, and I think that does affect a good portion of the season.”
Kid Kree, a significant character who is somewhat closer to Lunella’s age and stage of life, will also be involved in the conflict.
When discussing what makes Kid Kree the ideal counterpoint for Moon Girl, Clouden acknowledged that their dynamic’s “will they won’t they element was one of its enjoyable aspects.”
”Well, you get that aspect of this a little bit of like, will they won’t they aspect of that you get. Being a teenage girl dealing with emotions and things like that, but also, Kid Kree is in the actual Marvel Moon Girl comic. So, it was great to just kind of pay homage to that actual character that was in the comic book.”
The producer attested, “They’re both into science,” which, at least for Kid Kree, defies his father’s expectations:
“So, and to create this kind of weird tension and also this camaraderie that they have because they’re both into science and what Kid Kree goes through as Marvin—or Mel-Varr actually, with his father, who can’t relate to him being into science. He wants him to be a warrior… But he’s, ‘I love science.’”
Clouden highlighted another wonderful aspect of their narrative as being the fact that they are first unaware of each other’s disguised identities:
“So, to find someone [like] Lunella as a soul mate, or soul nerd as Casey would say, and then he can then have his outlet to do his science with it was something that we love[d] playing around with… And then also the fact that, oh, they don’t know that they are both enemies or antagonists against each other. So there’s like a lot of good to play around with that kind of storyline also.”
Lunella Accepts Her Status as a Superhero Despite PTSD
Although some may contend Lunella has been a superhero from the first episode of Season 1, it appears viewers can anticipate her focusing more on that role in these upcoming episodes.
Examining her PTSD after going through what she did on the other side of the interdimensional gate in the Season 1 finale will be a significant component of that as well. Even though Lunella’s fast return from the unknown could appear to have no repercussions, her mental state would strongly disagree.
Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel, and Luke Cage are just a few of the heroes in town whom she may consider asking for help. Perhaps they could also include a younger version of Miles Morales.
Fans may anticipate seeing some new faces in Season 2, such as the youthful yet resolute Kid Kree and the cosmically strong Molecule Man.
On February 2, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Season 2 will debut exclusively on Disney+.
Is Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur getting a Season 2?
Marvel’s ‘Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur returns for its second season on Friday.
How old is Lunella in Moon Girl?
13-year-old genius Lunella Lafayette resides on New York City’s Lower East Side with her parents and grandparents. She opens a portal one day, and a crimson Tyrannosaurus emerges. She transforms into Moon Girl, a superhero, and gives the dinosaur the moniker “Devil Dinosaur” with the help of her buddy Casey.
Is Moon Girl human?
Moon Girl tells her new ally her secret: Lunella finds out she’s a NuHuman, a combination of a human and an inhuman, and she’s afraid of going through Terrigenesis. After a number of misadventures, Lunella successfully completes the procedure and emerges with the inhuman ability to communicate with her dinosaur.
Is Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur OK for kids?
Both children and adults will enjoy the fantastic superhero fun of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Both children and adults will enjoy the fantastic superhero fun of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
Who is Moon Girl’s best friend?
In Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Casey María Eva Duarte Goldberg-Calderon is the tritagonist. She is Lunella Lafayette’s (Moon Girl) best friend and manager. She is a 13-year-old Puerto Rican-Jewish girl.
