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Last year, MTV announced that our favorite cynical queen Daria is heading back to our screens over 2o years since the series first premiered and today, MTV has announced plans to create a spin-off of the popular show centered around Daria’s close friend, Jodie Landon.
MTV recruited Tracee Ellis Ross to executive produce the Jodie spin-off and act as the voice of Jodie, the witty, intellectual Black suburban student who often lamented the lack of diversity in her high school. Jodie wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, especially when she felt like her and her black boyfriend, Mack Mackenzie—the only black kids at Lawndale High—were being used as token students.
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However, the new series will follow Jodie as she enters the corporate world post-undergrad and explore “the trials and tribulations of a first job.” It’s described as a “workplace comedy full of commentary about everything from gentrification to sex to tech to call-out culture,” Ross explained in a press release. Jodie will also touch on the struggles millennials face inside and outside their jobs, social media, privilege, and gender and racial issues through her humorous yet insightful voice.
“Being able to give voice to fresh, feminist and unexplored stories of young women excites me,” Ross said. “Jodie will spin-off from the cult classic Daria, and with the brilliant, sweet and sarcastic black girl magic that is Jodie Landon, we will feature a diverse cast, comprised mainly of unapologetically smart and ambitious young female characters who are vulnerable and flawed and interesting and funny.”
Jodie will also make history as the first adult animated show to center around a Black woman in nearly 20 years. There hasn’t been an official premiere date set for Jodie—or the Daria reboot, for that matter—but you can still catch up on the classic series on Hulu now.