Lunella Lafayette (Diamond White), aka Moon Girl from Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, is a super-genius who just wants to help and protect her community. Season 2 of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur hits the airwaves on February 2 on the Disney Channel and Disney XD and the next day on Disney+. Last week over Zoom, we chatted again with executive producer Steve Loter and co-executive producer Rodney Clouden, two of the creative minds who have helped bring the amazing Lunella to the screen.
It was exciting to talk to the duo about this upcoming season, and we learned a lot about what to expect for Lunella and her family. Loter and Clouden shared some of how Lunella’s superhero life would clash with her family life, and what that would mean for both of them. We talked about one of the new big villains this season, Molecule Man (Edward James Olmos), and some other guest voices.
The interview with Steve Loter and Rodney Clouden from Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
[Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. You can listen to the full interview below, find it most places podcasts are available, or read on.]
Ayla Ruby: Hi, it’s nice to talk to you again.
Steve Loter: Good to talk to you.
Rodney Clouden: Great talking to you.
Ayla Ruby: So congratulations on your Annie nominations and also your Emmy wins.
Rodney Clouden: Yeah, thank you.
Ayla Ruby: So I’m very excited about this season. I just finished watching the first four episodes, and I have a lot of questions.
Rodney Clouden: We’re here to answer what we can.
On finding Lunella finding out that Mimi has a genius legacy too
Ayla Ruby: Good. So I’ll just get right into it. Can you talk about Lunella dealing with the fallout of the knowledge that her Mimi (Alfre Woodard) was this amazing scientist? Will we see that this season? What will come into play?
Steve Loter: Oh yeah, no, that’s an important part of the season. The fact that now someone else in Lunella’s inner circle knows who she is, changes things a lot. But I think Mimi is also discovered to be an incredible scientist. So together, I think technologically it’s going to level Lunella up just having her as being part of the team. But I think emotionally it’s also a big deal because I think Lunella needs someone to really know what she’s going through and to kind of help her through it a little bit.
Rodney Clouden: And there’s an aspect of the duality of being a superhero and being a 13-year-old girl who’s holding this secret, and the fact that Mimi is going through the same thing now, and how do we tell the family? What do we tell the family? How are they going to respond to this? And so there’s the anxiety of that and how that would change the whole dynamic of the whole family structure and how they deal with each other.
Ayla Ruby:I liked that there was a lot of daydreaming about how her family would find out. And I think in the episode with Marvin, there’s this daydream and her family’s under the table and she’s blasting, and I just thought that was kind of an interesting way to explore that.
On doing the impossible without magic powers in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Ayla Ruby: So there’s a line in the first episode this season I thought was really, really powerful and it seemed to kind of be also a theme this season, and I was hoping you could talk about that. And if I’m totally wrong, that’s okay too, but the line was, you don’t need magic powers to do the impossible. And I think Lunella says this to the Beyonder who has lost his powers. Will that play at all for Lunella this season? Because there’s a moment where she almost has a crisis of faith over her science abilities.
Steve Loter: Oh yeah, absolutely. Season one is Lunella becoming Moon Girl. Season two is Lunella being Moon Girl. And now that she’s an established superhero, things have changed, villains have leveled up against her. There’s a lot more conflict of her trying to keep her secret from her family. Friendships are strained. So yeah, she’s going through a lot this season, and we do discover at certain points in time that the technology does not make the person. So that quote I think, is pretty spot on as far as definitely a thematic direction that this season takes.
Rodney Clouden: And that’s kind of the through line in terms of even carrying over from season one because she’s not a person that jumps far or flies or has super strength. But as we say, her brain is her superpower, and that’s something that she uses to make something out of nothing, and is able to still bring that defense and that superhero energy to the LES neighborhood, which people respect. And now she’s a legitimate superhero that people are looking at to help the neighborhood.
On favorite pieces of tech Lunella Lafayette uses
Ayla Ruby: Was there or is there a favorite piece of tech or kind of invention or solution that Lunella came up with either this season or the last season that you guys really liked?
Steve Loter: Her moon scanner device I think goes through a lot of changes this season. There seems to be a tendency for it to get wrecked and destroyed quite often and reinvented. So I think our aged technology, you see… We stay pretty retro as far as technology goes.
Rodney Clouden: Her superhero power is the power of upcycling.
Steve Loter: Exactly. So I think we move from cassettes to MP3s or CDs actually at some point this season. But that’s as far as we go.
Rodney Clouden: I think it might be a Zune for season three. I don’t know.
Steve Loter: Yeah, Zune. Yeah, maybe with Peter Quill’s Zune.
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Comics Reading Guide
On the parallels between Kid Kree’s journey and Lunella’s
Ayla Ruby: That would be fun. Can you talk about… So I want to talk again about this Kid Kree. Can you talk about this journey to acceptance that he’s on, kind of, with his father, and Lunella’s journeys?
Steve Loter: Yeah, Kid Kree is a great character. Xolo [Maridueña], you probably know from Cobra Kai and Blue Beetle. He’s so funny and he’s so incredible. So he really brought that character to life and that character is established in the Marvel comic book as well. So it’s a character we definitely were excited to bring to the screen.
But yeah, he definitely provides a different level to Lunella’s life. I mean, here’s now a boy who is into STEM and science and technology as much as she is, but he’s a character that doesn’t want to be a superhero. He doesn’t want to be a warrior, he wants to do technology. He wants to invent and create things. And so I think it creates an interesting dynamic between Lunella and Marvin, who’s Kid Kree in the story, because they come from similar places and they have similar views on things, but there’s definitely some conflict.
Rodney Clouden: It is interesting because he is this kid who has to disguise himself to do this, to use this technology from his… And she also has this… To be in a superhero outfit to use this technology. So like you said, there is a commonality in terms of things. And unlike Lunella, Marvin’s father is not as supportive of his genius. He doesn’t see that. So he has that conflict. And to have someone like Lunella to relate to, that he can have an outlet for his nerdiness is something that helps to build that relationship with him.
Ayla Ruby: As a mom, I kind of really appreciated at the end of that sequence that his father kind of accepted him and his brilliance, and I just thought that was really a lovely message just for kids, and I really liked that.
On including Molecule Man this season
Ayla Ruby: So we have the Kree here, but also Molecule Man makes an appearance. Can you talk about… Was there anyone you really wanted to include but couldn’t? Was there anyone that you got the okay to include this season that you were surprised that you didn’t think you could have?
Rodney Clouden: I think Molecule Man was a surprise for me.
Steve Loter: Molecule Man was a surprise. I think that we have a really great relationship with Marvel and we wanted to make sure that we were complimentary to the MCU and we certainly didn’t want to step on what they were doing because it’s so great. So we wanted to do some characters that you may not have kind of seen a lot.
We have a Marvel character Turbo in the back half of this season, which is a Marvel character, but probably hasn’t gotten her due in the comics. But you definitely get a really wonderful experience with her in one of the episodes. And we bring back Maria Hill, and we definitely have some Marvel surprises in this season, probably more so than in season one. Season one we kind of wanted to make sure that Lunella’s story can kind of stand on its own, but with season two, it felt like we could have fun by bringing in even more Marvel influences.
Rodney Clouden: And even with the design of Molecule Man, we took it and we put our own Moon Girl spin on it. And so it’s not the Molecule Man that people would probably recognize from the comic books. And Edward James Olmos does the voice of Molecule Man, and he just brought this incredible anger and pain to the character that it’s very nuanced and multilayered character than you would get from the comic books.
Erika Ishii is the voice of Turbo in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Ayla Ruby: Now, I know you have a lot of amazing guest stars, and I don’t know if you can share this, but can you share who voiced Turbo? Or is that later to come?
Rodney Clouden: Erika Ishii is the voice of Turbo.
On moments of humor at the end of the fourth episode
Ayla Ruby: Oh, that’s awesome. No, that’s fantastic. I know we’re getting really close on time. I have two questions. So one, there are dancing pecs in the fourth episode at the very end. I just want to know who came up with that, because that was really funny at the end credits?
Steve Loter: Rodney, was that Sam?
Rodney Clouden: It probably was Sam.
Steve Loter: Sam Lee, one of our directors. Yeah, it is probably the likely culprit.
Ayla Ruby: That was really funny.
On what people should know about season 2 of Moon Girl and if they’ve talked about season 3
Ayla Ruby: And is there anything else you want people to know about this season? Is there anything that hasn’t been said about Moon Girl yet?
Steve Loter: This season is an absolute rollercoaster. What we’ve seen in season one is becoming a superhero, is one thing, but being a superhero is something else. And we definitely throw a lot of stuff Lunella’s way, and we definitely have a lot of conflict, but we also have a lot of music and a lot of comedy. We’ve definitely juiced up this season, for sure. It is quite an adventure.
Ayla Ruby: Is there any… I know this season isn’t even on the air yet, but has there been talk of a third season… You got your second season announcement really early. Are there discussions?
Steve Loter: We hope so. I mean, I think a lot of it has to do with the fans. The more that… We were premiering February 2nd on Disney Channel and with two episodes, and then we were dropping 14 episodes on Disney+ the next day on February 3rd. So the more people watch, particularly in the early kind of drop times, is really good for us because then it shows that there’s an audience for the show, and we definitely have plans for season three. We’ve already figured it out. We know exactly where we want to go in season three.
Rodney Clouden: There’s a whole map. It’s a whole line, string and everything. It’s all figured out, just waiting for the…
Steve Loter: So we’re hoping that people tune in particularly early on Moon Girl season two, so we can continue the story.
Rodney Clouden: Because we love them, and keep making them.
Ayla Ruby: Well, I love that. Thank you so much. And congratulations again. I can’t wait to watch the rest of the episodes.
Steve Loter: Thank you so much.
Rodney Clouden: Thank you.
Where to watch Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur season 2
That’s it for my interview with Executive Producers Steve Loter and Rodney Clouden about season 2. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur season 2 will premiere on the Disney Channel and Disney XD on February 2nd as well as Disney+. Have you watched season 1? Are you excited for season 2? Let us know on social media @mycosmiccircus or in The Cosmic Circus Discord! Check out more of our previous coverage, including a review of season 2 below!
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Return in a Magnificent Season 2
Cosmic Cafe: Interview with Pilar Flynn of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
Interview with Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur EPs Steve Loter and Rodney Clouden (on season 1)
