Louder and Prouder’ Creators Talk Series Return

The fourth and final season of Proud Family: Louder and Prouder is back on Disney+ today, and let’s just say that our beloved Penny Proud gets into some teenage shenanigans this season.

At Essence Festival, we got an exclusive look at the final season’s first episode, which dives right into Penny’s relationship with her boyfriend Kareem, her always-entertaining family, and more.

HelloBeautiful’s Char Masona also got to chat with creators Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar about the Proud Family’s impact on pop culture and what’s in store for the series’ final season, including appearances from some very famous voices like Chloe Bailey, who is “amazingly talented,” according to Farquhar. 

“It was a pleasure to work with her,” he told HelloBeautiful.

“We talked about this earlier in terms of characters [and] actors lending their voice to the show. We don’t want them to be anything else but themselves or just, an extension of yourself, but nothing that’s cartoony in terms of this characterization because we want the characters to feel believable and grounded, and we thought that [Chloe’s] voice was interesting enough as it was, it was real acting,” Smith said . 

“She’s very convincing as someone who might take your man,” Farquhar joked about Bailey’s performance, while also giving a taste of what’s to come from Bailey’s character.

The Proud Family Legacy Continues

There’s no denying the legacy that Smith and Farquhar built with the first original animated series on the Disney Channel. Twenty-five years later, the legacy continues at Disney Parks, where a walkaround Penny Proud will be available for meet-and-greets. The animated series has also made its way into the pop culture lexicon in ways that the creators may have never imagined.

Take Wizard Kelly, for example, the tall, wealthy businessman whose face was never seen in the series.

Now, in modern dating, it is common for people in relationships to hide their partner’s face online and sometimes refer to their partner as their “Wizard Kelly.”

Smith and Farquhar didn’t know that this dating trend would materialize when they created the character, who was inspired by Magic Johnson.

“Once we knew it was a basketball player, I had this, one of my early sketches of Penny’s boyfriend was like this kid who you just did not see his face. He was just so tall, and you never saw him. Just saw him from the shoulders down. So I just took that idea and just moved it over to this character,” Smith said.

“I remember when we got really excited because Ralph knows Magic, and so we were like, ‘I think we can get Magic for the show.’ 

And he said, ‘Hell no,” Farquhar noted.

“But we were like, ‘Listen, the laws of parody still allow us to kind of play off the idea of having the actual Magic,’” Smith said.

“The attorney said, ‘Hell no,’” Farquhar continued.

“And so, we were like, ‘Okay, we’ll get somebody else to voice him,’ and that’s where the idea of Aries Spears came in because Aries did a really great Magic Johnson impression, which was funny,” Smith said.

“But the attorneys are the ones who said, ‘Well, you can call him Wizard Kelly,’” Farquhar added.

Who would have guessed that an attorney would come up with the name of a character who is still around today, with Kelly continuing to make appearances on Louder and Prouder?

Next Up: A Holiday Special

It’s always hard to close the chapter on a beloved series, but this won’t be our last time seeing our favorite family on screen.

This winter, we’ll be able to watch A Proud Family Wizmas, a stop-motion holiday special featuring the Prouds and elves voiced by Earthquake, Affion Crockett, Luenell, Lil Rel Howery, Karlous Miller and so much more.

Until then, you can stream the new season of The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder on Disney+ now.

‘Proud Family: Louder and Prouder’ Creators Talk Guest Star Chloe Bailey, Penny Proud And More
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