April 12th, 2023 
Lauren Ashton 
With the second season of the Rugrats reboot coming this Friday, April 14th, I was excited to speak with executive producers Kate Boutilier and Casey Leonard all about the beloved series. While there have been some notable changes to certain aspects of the show, much of what made the original Rugrats so special continues to shine in the reboot. This Animation Scoop Q&A is an exciting discussion that touches on character updates, references to today’s world vs. the world of the 1990s, and the return of the talent who made the original series so iconic. (This conversation was edited for length and clarity.)
Lauren Ashton: Kate and Casey, Rugrats was a huge part of my childhood, as it was for so many others. The original show debuted in 1991, which means the kids who grew up watching Rugrats are now grownups themselves, and may even have babies of their own! Kate, how does it feel to be a producer for this monumental return after having been an integral part of the original series?
Kate Boutilier: It’s great. I mean, I never thought about a simple “could you come back?” But I like that it’s a new version of the show. In the beginning we had so many people saying “are the babies still babies?” And we said “of course”! So the babies are still being the babies, and we’re just making some other small adjustments on parents and timeline and things like that. That was important for me. And the voice cast of the original babies brings those characters back. And then to have this new world of CGI, and how it was going to be done in Casey’s department was so exciting. If they had asked, “do you want to come back”, and if it were 2-D, I probably would’ve said yes, too, but I’m really pleased the way it went. Because it’s given us to me more opportunities. But yeah, it’s been really great.
LA: Casey, you’ve worked on other Nickelodeon shows that are loved by so many. As someone who has previously worked in the animation department, how does it feel to be a producer for a show that’s so culturally significant?
Casey Leonard: Oh, it’s like it’s a dream, right? Because, I mean, I watched Rugrats when I was a kid! So to be part of it, you know, I don’t take it lightly. I was like, “this is the one show that I that I gotta get right. I can’t mess this one up”. It’s really, really exciting. I remember the feeling of it as a kid, like, watching Rugrats, and what it meant. Being like ten and knowing that I’m watching a show about babies, but just loving being a part of their secret lives, you know? It was also weird. It was silly, but it was like kind of weird and gnarly. And now I’m sort of taking the reigns with Kate on it. I just always think about really preserving that feeling that I had when I was a kid that really made me just love it so much. And just making sure that is always feels wholesome but weird. Like always. So yeah, it’s been really it’s been really exciting to work on the show.
KB: hearing that from Casey and other people on our crew for the show. It constantly reminds me that I came to the show as a writer/producer, not a viewer. It’s easy to think of the show, like, “oh, it’s a sitcom about our family”. Well, it’s not really because babies don’t talk. I always have to remind the writers coming in on Rugrats: you have to do shows you couldn’t do anywhere else because we have a unique point of view.These babies are obviously beyond their years, but, you know, we can’t have them doing summer salts and things of that nature that they physically they can’t do, but also, emotionally, we want to tap into our viewers, or you guys, as kids, saying, “wow, I’m older but I feel just like Chuckie’s feeling today!” That’s what we’re constantly reminding writers: to think of your own childhood self, not as a baby but as a 6 or 11 year old. And what can we bring to it that one of our characters will bring to it, whether it be you know, Angelica, Chuckie, Tommy, Susie, we really, you know, constantly remember that because otherwise it’s just a family show, which it’s not. It’s a baby point of view show. I love when grownups say “I was a Chucky” or “I was a Tommy”. I love it. Or “I secretly love Angelica.”
CL: Who doesn’t secretly love Angelica?
KB: Parents, maybe! I don’t know.
CL: Another thing, to sit in these records with the original voice cast. It’s such a dream for me. Because Charlie Adler, who was also the original voice director, and then, of course, all the babies are the original cast. I mean, it’s like a dream come true for me because I get to work with and watch these people. These like amazing voice actors and director like, doing their thing. It’s just like, wow! It’s amazing, it’s so fun.
LA: I can imagine! And I love how you described it as “wholesome, but weird”. Rugrats is sort of unique in that way, with the the baby’s perspective especially. My next question now pertains to the parents and the adults. One of the funniest parts of Rugrats, especially for older audience members, has always been the adult characters. After watching season one of the reboot, this still seems to be the case. However, there are notable changes for some of the characters. I wanted to ask how y’all feel some of these character changes have enhanced the story- I’m thinking of Betty and Grandpa.
KB: Yeah, they were the big two, as well as the Carmichaels. It really was an approach of …we’re in a different era. First of all, let’s do the math- Grandpa Lou would not be… you know, he was originally a World War II veteran, so today he’d be 96 years old. So we have him younger. Also, grandparents are raising kids nowadays. Grandparents and cool! This grandpa, we can timeline, he’d be maybe 70? We wanted to keep the look of Lou, but with the addition of this sort of hippie-era clothing. We’ve softened him in a way, but hopefully kept that nostalgia viewers had. Grandpa was special, he loved the kids. He was special, but we didn’t want a grandpa who falls asleep while the babies run off we wanted a grandpa who was distracted because he was into so many things. So it was really about changing the times. Betty is a similar case. We wanted to represent that single gay mom. It’s part of life. We have Chas as a widowed dad, and, this change with Betty made the most sense. We feel good about it. And then the Carmichaels, the big difference is that we aged them a little down so that they would be peers to the other babies. You might see Buster and Edwin in a different way in Season Two, but we wanted to have them be a part of the friend group more. And that’s why we made Susie their only child, and slightly younger so she can be part of the baby’s adventures. I like the choices we made and I think they’ve helped keep the stories fresh and new.
CL: And also, the parent’s friend group. This time around, they feel more like big kids, which I think really represents Millennials, you know? Like we just feel like we’re big kids trying to navigate life as adults. And to kind of capture the big kid energy versus the energy of dealing with being first time parents feels like a very, very truthful update. Like, how young parents are right now. So from my perspective, that was a really fun thing to do. And like, maybe from a baby’s perspective, they’re like, ancient Because they’re little and have no idea. But from an adult perspective, it’s like, “Nah, man. We’re just big kids like just trying to figure things out as well.” And kind of working on the adult relationships and how they interact was fun.
LA: I could feel that “big kid energy” as you say- I think I’m on the cusp of being a Millennial/Gen Z, but I totally get what you mean. That brings me to my next question- after watching season one, I so enjoyed the nods of the world of today. And I think the show does a really nice job of being sort of aware of itself. One episode that I really enjoyed was “I Dream of Duffy”. So funny, and so relevant to today. You know, in terms of our on demand world, things like Siri and Alexa, and how a child would totally think that it’s just magic. People my age wouldn’t have experienced that growing up because it wasn’t a thing. But today that definitely pertains to families. I wanted to see if you guys could expand on the process of developing these themes, specifically regarding our modern times.
KB: Well, that’s a great question, thank you. So when we started working on the show, we immediately said,” let’s also take”, as you said, “what kids will have in their homes, which will be our version of Alexa”. Of course our kids are babies, so they’re not going to have their own cell phones, (except you probably saw the one where Angelica puts in the face filters) but their parents have them. So we just wanted, in the same way that the original series was sort of spoofing self help parenting books- we’re trying to do the same with parents always looking up questions on the internet. And it doesn’t affect the babies too much, except for Duffy. And of course, Angelica considers it her best friend.
CL: But it’s funny because Angelica can interact with Duffy, but the babies can’t They’re just, like, babbling.
KB: Right. And so, we spoofed the idea that the package gets delivered in two minutes. And in Season Two, you’ll see more of that. We try to say, “what else would a friend group of this age do that’s fun and kid-like”. We did a few, like when we did Dungeons and Dragoons as Goblets and Goblins. We want to do even more of that. For both sides, for the kid’s side and adult’s side.
LA: Yeah, well I love that episode! And I especially love the way that the babies can’t speak to Duffy, and it becomes this mythical thing. Those references are great. That kind of brings me to my next question. One of my favorite parts is when the babies go on their imaginary adventures and quests. I noticed in the reboot that the aspect ratio changes to make it like a movie like in those scenes. And I love that detail. I also noticed movie references like Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park– I was wondering what went into these really fun choices?
CL: Yeah, we do. Yeah, the fantasies are sort of like in letterbox. And even when we light those sets and do the color corrects on the on final picture, we’re always thinking about having a more cinematic feel. These are all very touchable things. And it’s exciting you picked up on that. Because when we’re at home with the family or just like around town, we wanted to feel that sitcom thing, like you’re with them, right? But then to be thrown into this wild fantasy- there’s quite a bit of that in the coming season. It just felt right to really lean in with the cinematics. Almost like you’re watching a movie, you know, starring these babies.
KB: Yeah. We did that in the pilot- with Indiana Jones and The Godfather. We do those genres, but not necessarily a movie parody way, like we do in the pilot. But we do keep the adventures as big as possible in those fantasies. For sure.
LA: I think it’s so fun- I really enjoyed watching it. So I was going ask about Dill Pickles, but I saw in the trailer that Didi is pregnant, which is exciting! So my last question would be, since we’re officially moving into the second season of this reboot, are there any exciting future plans for a movie, or perhaps a spinoff? Anything like that you could talk about?
KB: Well, I think our big excitement is Dill, as you said. That’s the one we’re focused on in Season Two. We get to see Didi pregnant for more multiple episodes from a baby’s point of view, as well as the parents. And from her own perspective throughout the different stages of pregnancy, and it really made for some fun episodes of what the babies misinterpret. I don’t want to give them away, but they’re super funny. And then we have the birth, which is really fun. And then we have a baby Dill, and he’s a blob! You know, we’ve got some blobby Dill and it’s it’s great. He’s a newborn, so we get to have fun with this development. The other things you mentioned- that’s out of our hands. Let’s hope and let’s see, but I think it’ll be really fun for original fans to see Dill. As you saw in the trailer, he’s as cute as ever, and will sound as cute as ever.
CL: It’s been fun to take our time with him because, like Kate was saying, for a couple of episodes we really explore like, him just being a newborn that, like, can’t even like lift his head, you know? And it’s like, how do Tommy and the babies deal with this new roommate that can’t even move? All it can do is like cry, and they’re trying to figure out how to deal with it. It’s so funny. And then towards the end of the season, he’s sort of becoming more active, so there’s that nuance. In the studio, we got to take our time with it, and it was really fun to kind of explore how he grows.
KB: But also for writing purposes, we can have Angelica kind of mess with the babies, even before the Dill is there because she’s aware, like, “this baby’s coming”. And there’s gonna be plenty of time before Dill’s born for Angelica to have her typical interactions, but it was fun to see her put the fear into Tommy’s head.
CL: Yeah, it was so funny to watch Tommy get manipulated by Angelica, and so earnestly think he may have to move out.
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