Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: 7 Takeaways From the Cast and Producers

Laurence Fishburne Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur explained: how the show began

The Laurence Fishburne Moon Girl story starts with a comic book. According to Wikipedia's article on the series, Marvel Studios president Louis D'Esposito showed Fishburne the comic Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Fishburne, a fan of the original Moon-Boy and Devil Dinosaur, wanted an animated series about the duo, and in February 2018 it was reported that Marvel Animation and his Cinema Gypsy Productions were developing one for Disney Channel. Production went on for two years before Steve Loter was hired as executive producer and showrunner. Fishburne and Helen Sugland also executive produce.

The show follows Lunella Lafayette, a 13-year-old genius living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with her parents and grandparents. She accidentally activates a portal that brings a red, horned Tyrannosaurus into present-day New York, names him Devil Dinosaur, and becomes the superhero Moon Girl with the help of her best friend Casey. Diamond White voices Lunella and Fred Tatasciore voices Devil. Animation is by Flying Bark Productions.

Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur premiered on Disney Channel on February 10, 2023 and reached Disney+ on February 15. Rough Cut Review attended the series' press event, where Fishburne, Loter, White and Tatasciore took questions from journalists. What follows are the seven takeaways, grouped by theme and paraphrased from that session, followed by what has happened to the series since.

Takeaways 1 and 2: a look built on Spider-Verse and comics

Asked how the design was chosen, Loter said the team wanted something unique, with Into the Spider-Verse as a huge inspiration because it opened the door to superhero animation that looked specialized. He and Fishburne talked early about the vision, and since Fishburne is a big comic book fan, they used that as a springboard for the line work on characters and the overall style. Fishburne added that conversations covered backgrounds, color palette and textures, including the graffiti that fills New York in the series.

On what makes this production different, Fishburne's first answer was that animation takes much longer. He also said the series is not officially connected to the MCU. It is a family show in which the characters may not save the world but will save the Lower East Side. Loter called it four-quadrant, an industry term for a show meant for parents, kids and grown-up kids alike. Wikipedia reports that the producers consider the series a companion to the MCU and not part of the franchise.

Takeaways 3 and 4: representation and a real New York

Diamond White said she sees a lot of herself in Lunella. At seven years old, she said, she wanted a character like this to come to life, and having someone with her skin tone and hair texture matters to her. She described the show as making history with Marvel's first teenage Black girl superhero, and as a show she needed growing up.

Loter, who grew up in New York in the 1980s and 1990s, said he wanted to capture the city before gentrification, when graffiti art, music and poetry were alive, and that he had seen New York misrepresented in other animated work. The team drew on Andy Warhol's silkscreen process, Basquiat's graffiti art and street murals. Wikipedia adds that graffiti artists were hired for the show's wall art and that the writers' room and the directing team were made up entirely of women of color.

How the series was made

Production details help explain why the show looks the way it does. Disney Television Animation's studios closed in 2020 during the pandemic, so most of the series was made remotely, and each episode was treated as a feature-style mini-movie with its own color script. Loter said White was cast after he heard her audition tape, the only one he listened to. White and Libe Barer ad-libbed many of the exchanges between Moon Girl and Casey, and Tatasciore was given scripted lines for Devil that he then worked into animal vocals.

Takeaways 5 to 7: Aftershock, smart is cool, and an early renewal

The pilot's villain, Aftershock, is a deliberate statement about gentrification, Loter said. She drains the Lower East Side of its energy and stands for the loss of community and neighborhood. She is the daughter of Electro, and Wikipedia lists Alison Brie as the voice of Ms. Dillon, her alter ego.

Asked whether nerd is the new cool, Fishburne said he has always thought it is cool to be smart, whatever your gender, color, faith or country, and that you cannot be what you cannot see, so young girls of color seeing Lunella may be less afraid to lead with their intelligence. Finally, the cast and producers reacted to the second-season renewal announced before the premiere. Loter said the story grows more serialized as season 1 goes on and the team hoped to continue beyond a second season.

The seven takeaways at a glance

1. 01Design: Into the Spider-Verse and comic book line work shaped the look, with graffiti built into the backgrounds.
2. 02Format: animation takes longer than live action, and the show is a family series that is not officially tied to the MCU.
3. 03Representation: Diamond White sees herself in Lunella and calls the show the one she needed as a child.
4. 04Setting: Loter's 1980s and 1990s New York of Warhol, Basquiat and murals is the model for the Lower East Side.
5. 05Villain: Aftershock is a deliberate statement about gentrification and lost community.
6. 06Message: it is cool to be smart, and you cannot be what you cannot see.
7. 07Future: the second season was ordered before the first aired, and the team hoped for more.

Main voice cast of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Source: Wikipedia, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

Laurence Fishburne as the Beyonder, and the verdict

Fishburne also performs on screen as a voice. He plays the Beyonder, a recurring trickster with cosmic powers who is judging whether humanity deserves to exist, and who narrates background on villains in earlier episodes under the credit Backstory Man. Kevin Feige suggested the character as a foil for Lunella, and Loter suggested Fishburne for the voice. According to Wikipedia, Fishburne wanted the performance lighter and less recognizable than his earlier roles, and the two developed the voice together.

Rough Cut Review's verdict after seeing the first episodes was that the show is perfect for kids, very funny and well voiced, with strong themes of representation. It singled out episode 5 for a social commentary about hairstyles and hair loss as they relate to Black women in culture. Critics agreed: Wikipedia lists a 100 percent approval rating for season 1 on Rotten Tomatoes from 16 reviews, with a critical consensus describing visuals that feel "beamed straight from a child's imagination."

The guest list is long. Wikipedia lists Jennifer Hudson as Mane, Lunella's vengeful living hair, Daveed Diggs as the Rat King, Maya Hawke as the teleporter Abyss, Method Man as the ape-like Torg and Wesley Snipes as the mad scientist Maris Morlak, with Cobie Smulders returning as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill from the MCU. In season 2 Lunella and Devil meet a powerful alien villain, Molecule Man, voiced by Edward James Olmos, and she has to decide whether keeping her identity secret is worth the toll on her family.

What happened next is mostly good news followed by a clean ending. The series was renewed in October 2022 for a second season, which Wikipedia describes as its second and final. Part 1 premiered on February 2, 2024 and Part 2 on February 6, 2025, and the final episode aired on March 8, 2025. The series won five Children's and Family Emmy Awards. A crossover with Spidey and His Amazing Friends, called Moon Girl and the Dino Dilemma, aired on November 15, 2024, with White and Tatasciore reprising their roles. The season 1 finale had also revealed that Lunella's grandmother Mimi was the original Moon Girl. One small production detail sticks: each episode features a different song by Raphael Saadiq, framed as part of a mix-tape Lunella listens to.

Sources

• Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Wikipedia — Development, cast, premiere dates, renewal, awards and reception.