SpongeBob SquarePants remains one of Nickelodeon's crowning animated achievements, and one of the longest-running animated series on television. Spawning movies and other spin-offs, the SpongeBob universe is set to continue further with the upcoming spin-off about SpongeBob's eponymous friend, The Patrick Star Show. With 13 episodes in the can, The Patrick Star Show will arrive on Nickelodeon on July 9th.
It will also bring back several SpongeBob veterans in its voice cast, including Cree Summer and Dan Snyder as Grandma Tentacles and GrandPat Star, and Tom Wilson as Cecil Star. Patrick himself is one of the most beloved characters in the SpongeBob ensemble, and with his show bringing so much of the usual gang along, SpongeBob fans won't want to miss The Patrick Star Show with its debut right around the corner.
We speak to Summer, Snyder, and Wilson about their roles in The Patrick Star Show, what's it's been like returning to their respective roles in the franchise, and what SpongeBob lovers can expect from Patrick's spin-off.
Hi everyone! So, why don't we kind of start off with how you all became involved with the show?
Cree: I became involved just like I usually become involved. I got an audition call, and did a read, and I guess everybody liked it, so that's how I got here!
Tom and Dana?
Tom: I'll try to make it short, but I actually remember, I was working on Nickelodeon shows, and they were talking about a new, like a 5-minute pilot. It was a sponge in the bottom of the sea! The sponge was like a sponge that you buy at the supermarket, and we're calling it SpongeBob SquarePants. And me, being the visionary that I was, 'Well, who would watch that? That sounds weird!' But Stephen Hillenburg was great, he was a friend, and I was involved in many, many different guest characters, including Patrick's, both his fake dad and his real dad back in SpongeBob episodes. So, I ended up actually moving over to be Cecil Star.
Dana: I had the same exact way as Cree, except it only happened about 7 months ago instead of during the middle of COVID.
Cree: Yeah, we're brand new!
Dana: Fresh!
So, what can you all share just about working on Patrick Star and what fans of SpongeBob can expect from it?
Cree: I think the good news is you're going to get to see a lot of the old, beloved characters that come back to keep that continuity. But then, there's also going to be brand new characters. Like Tom said, we've got his Momma and his Daddy, Squidward is back as the paperboy and we've got his grandaddy, and you know, it's Patrick as a teenager and everybody gets swept up into his insane, zany imagination. Also, you can expect, because of this fractured narrative a lot really cool animation changes, and you know, some black-and-white and stop-motion, and also just the freedom of this fractured foundation that let's us tell all kinds of stories, we're not hemmed in by the traditional storytelling.
Dana: There's some real zany stuff. I mean, not that there's not in SpongeBob, but there's a lot of time-travel and harken back to the old days, and that's pretty great, I think, it's just crazy.
Tom: Yeah, I have four children who have followed the entire SpongeBob arc, so I can't express enough how much myself and my family love SpongeBob, love Bikini Bottom, and love the universe. But to take that into a new way - I mean, in my opinion, animation I think is really the most creative outlet that people are doing right now. And to be a part of it where, I mean, the entire history of pop, is encapsuled in one show. Look, it's like a dream, it's like being on I Love Lucy and The Sonny and Cher Variety Hour to laugh in, and the entire sort of history of both comedy, that has to have a base, that has to have a family, but also goes from there, and I mean, and explosion of creativity that's beyond anything I've read, you know. I was on a Nickelodeon show a while ago called Pig Goat Banana Cricket, and that was getting pretty, you know, as the studio starts to say 'Hey, we want creative people really doing it. I mean, we want creative stuff.' And it was just exploding into this multi-faceted creative universes that I think Patrick Star is just a part of as a kind of a logical extension of 'You need a base, you have a mom and dad and GrandPat and everything, but then good luck keeping track of all of the imaginative universes around it, because it's as wild as Patrick's imagination.
Awesome, awesome! I think that's all the time we had.
Cree: (Makes speeding car noise)
Yeah, it's a brief one!
Tom: Did I talk too long, I'm sorry!
No, it's cool! But Tom, Cree, Dana, thank you so much for your time, and yeah, look forward to seeing Patrick Starr when it drops soon!
Tom: Thanks Brad, sorry if I talked too long!
Dana: Thank you Brad!
Pleasure, pleasure!