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Fairly OddParents: A New Wish Cast Talk Brand New Series, Cosmo and Wanda’s Retirement and More
Introducing Hazel
Nick Valdez, COMICBOOK: I was watching Fairly OddParents when it was part of Oh Yeah! Cartoons, so I’ve been in this for quite a while. But A New Wish is the start of a whole new era, and we have Hazel at the center of it all as the new godkid. So Ashley, how was it finding Hazel’s voice not only as the actor behind her, but also as one of the major creative forces behind this new series?
ASHLEIGH CRYSTAL HAIRSTON: Finding Hazel’s voice has been super fun. I got brought onto the series pretty early on right into development. We just had a name for Hazel and that was it. So I really got to put a lot of my own self and my own childhood into Hazel’s character. I hope that fans of the show will really relate to her because she is this weird, spunky, quirky little kid. She likes to collect rocks and talk to them, which is a thing that I did. She loves trees. And one of the episodes she writes a poem about a tree that is…we used a real poem that I wrote about a tree when I was a kid. And she loves french fries. I got to write an episode about her wishing for unlimited french fries. I got to really put a lot of my own childhood into this character, and it has been just so much fun bringing her to life.
That’s awesome too, because one of the things I noticed was that Hazel has a much different dynamic than Timmy used to. Timmy, I mean, to quote the [opening song] was an average kid who no one understood, had terrible parents, terrible babysitter. But Hazel’s kind of got this whole positive kind of life, and her problems seem more internal. So was that kind of a conscious push in this new series to have Hazel have these more internal modern struggles?
HAIRSTON: We really wanted to sort of differentiate between the two godkids. I also think it speaks to sort of the time that the shows existed in. Timmy’s problems were more external. He was dealing with checked out parents and an evil babysitter and that kind of thing. He was just your average kid, and he was kind of a little bit selfish at times and his wishes reflected that. So Hazel of today is sort of representing kids today who are a lot more emotionally aware. They are a lot more engaged in the things that are happening around them in the world, and they care about those things. And so, we wanted to create a godkid and a child that reflected the [kids] of today. So a lot of her problems are more internal, whereas she’s dealing with self-confidence and identity, and she cares about the world. She cares about how people feel around her. She really cares about how she makes people feel. And so, we really wanted to show the difference in the godkids in that way.
Bringing Back Cosmo and Wanda
Speaking to these differences, Daran and Susanne, you two have been stalwarts of this franchise since the very beginning, but here it just feels so different, so fresh. So I wanted to know from the two of you who’ve been in so many of the Fairly OddParents projects, was there a different energy in the recording booth for this one? Did you feel that newness?
SUSANNE BLAKESLEE: Oh, yeah. I mean, well first of all it was a total surprise and a discovery. This new kid is on a curve of learning or a learning curve, if you will. I just made that up. It’s a little more of a growth as in to contrast Timmy who was always just getting into another bind. As Ashley was speaking to, she really is on a quest to find herself and find a way to fit in and have confidence.
HAIRSTON: True.
DARAN NORRIS: I love what Susanne said. Also, Cosmo and Wanda have been on vacation for a thousand years, so they had to sort of relearn the ropes themselves. And that’s a fun part to play in this series is that they’re not just these slick old pros. They have their own difficulties and they’re not perfect at all.
HAIRSTON: And they’re human now too.
NORRIS: Yes, and they’re human. And not good at being human either.
What Were Cosmo and Wanda Up To?
Fairly OddParents has been around in different forms for…it’s been two decades. I hate to put an age on that, but I’ve also aged up too.
BLAKESLEE: I haven’t, no.
Oh, I need some of that fountain of youth! But did you expect Fairly OddParents to be back here after all this time when you first started all those years ago?
NORRIS: No. It’s a complete shock and a joy. It is a complete surprise, yes.
BLAKESLEE: Absolutely. It was a joy to do it in the first place, but then to meet Ashley and her exuberance and her wonderful character, it’s just been a complete joy.
Speaking to that joy and the thousands of years of Cosmo and Wanda’s retirement, what’s something that you all think Cosmo and Wanda were doing during that time? Because we get little hints that they were visiting the dinosaurs and they were in space and all sorts of wild stuff.
BLAKESLEE: I think making a lot of mistakes. I think that’s a given. And then trying to repair the mistakes.
NORRIS: I think we’ve been on a lot of very long cruises. I think that Wanda is a real cruise-y kind of lady. She’d want to hang out at the buffet and the pool.
BLAKESLEE: Don’t bang it, baby.
What They Hope for Kids
A New Wish is going to be a lot of kids’ first introduction to the franchise…to the Fairly OddParents idea. Is there something in particular that you hope to get across with A New Wish to these new fans?
HAIRSTON: I am excited for kids to realize that they can be weird, especially little girls, specifically. I don’t think there haven’t been many characters, animated series characters, that were just, they got to just be weirdos. They just got to be weird and it’s okay. So I hope that is a big takeaway, that it’s cool to be a little off beat. It’s cool to be silly and not fit in everywhere or be liked by everyone. It’s more so just about finding that self-confidence within yourself and you can do anything when you can do that, when you can be confident with who you are. And that’s something that Hazel goes through over time throughout the series. I hope that’s the takeaway because I struggled with that too at that age. And some say, I’m still. Well, no, I’m not anymore. But as adults, we deal with that as well. So I hope that’s a big takeaway for the show.
BLAKESLEE: And also you get people who grant your every wish, but they’re not perfect either. I mean, they struggle with problems and stuff, and I think kids can realize that the adults around them don’t know everything. Sometimes they don’t know very much, but it’s okay because you’re learning, and they’re learning at the same time.
HAIRSTON: I love that.
Fairly OddParents: A New Wish premieres on Nickelodeon on Monday, May 20th.
