September 2nd, 2019 
Greg Ehrbar 
Interlocking plot twists. Complex, divisive character relationships. Mind-bending sci-fi-fantasy predicaments. Yet comedic and slyly satiric. Not, Stranger Things or Game of Thrones (or ponytails or cottontails) – no, its Ducktales. Yet for those who haven’t kept up, it isn’t so intense that it requires charts and graphs to catch on. It’s still Ducktales. (Woo-oo.)
This Tuesday, September 3, viewers will return to Duckburg when Disney Channel resumes the second season’s episodes, starting with an episode called, “Whatever Happened to Donald Duck?” at 3:00 p.m. EST. Here’s a preview:
Former Saturday Night Live cast member and writer Bobby Moynihan, who voices Louie, the entrepreneurial nephew of Scrooge McDuck (Doctor Who’s David Tennant), grew up with the 1987 classic and is impressed with the writing of the new version.
“To write comedy, family drama, and adventure, and make sure you have all their character arcs correct, and also have to figure out the technology and the phrasing of the ‘Mummies of Toth-Ra,’ it’s insane,” he said at the recent D23 Expo in Anaheim, California. At SNL, we would just go like this… [scribbles on paper and holds up the page] ‘This? Maybe? I dunno!’ What they do is insanely great.”
A relatively new character thought to be lost in the shadows is Lena, niece of legendary villain Magic DeSpell (Catherine Tate, also of Doctor Who and the U.S. version of The Office). Originally sent to spy on the McDuck clan, Lena became a friend and protector of McDuck’s niece, Webby. No one is happier to see Lena return to Ducktales than actor Kimiko Glenn (Orange Is the New Black).
“For me, it was a little selfish because I play Lena,” she says. “I was a little worried that she was going to be stuck in the shadows forever. It was thrilling to know that she was back. It’s such a fun role. She’s not single-sided. She’s struggling between good and evil, how to use her magic properly–things are just super fun to play [in contrast to] Webby, who is soooo good. Just having that moral dilemma of which to choose–obviously she goes with Webby, she follows her heart, which I think is beautiful.”
One of several characters to have reached cult status is Mrs. Bentina Beakley, voiced by Toks Olangundoye of Castle and The Neighbors). She’s a nanny and a former super agent for S.H.U.S.H (run by Ludwig Von Drake, voiced by Corey Burton).
Is Beakley more Mary Poppins or James Bond? Actually, Olangundoye sees her as the quintessential female super-spy, Emma Peel, played by Diana Rigg in the 1960s ABC-TV action-fantasy show The Avengers (not to be confused with the Marvel series).
“Big fan all my life,” said Olangundoye. And like Mrs. Peel, Beakley’s firm resolve is balanced by an underlying warmth and humor. “I’m glad that that comes through because sometimes it’s difficult to figure out how to convey that in my voice because she is so stern, but sometimes she has to be vulnerable and she has to be soft. She is always at her root very matter-of-fact.” When she first read for the role, her inspiration for the audition was Helen Mirren.
The cast was reluctant to disclose too much about the coming season but Olangundoye conveyed some of the essence. “There are a lot of things in this season that caught me by surprise and really made me emotional, so I’m excited to see how people react to those things. There’s a lot going on for the family as a unit.
“It’s exciting. There are a lot of good moments that people can relate to—discovery of who you are and where you are in the world and what your place is in the family and all that. It’s good stuff.”
Kiniko Glenn (Lena), Bobby Moynihan (Louie) and Toks Olagundoye (Mrs. Beakly)
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