A long time ago… Veronica Mars’ original three-season run came to an end.
Veronica Mars may have come back for a fan-funded movie in 2014 and a fourth season on Hulu in 2019, but the original show came to a close 15 years ago.
For many castmembers, the series marked one of their first major roles, arguably launching the career of Kristen Bell, who starred as the title character and has since gone on to have an extensive career.
The series follows Bell’s Veronica, the daughter of a sheriff-turned-private-detective in Neptune, California, who takes what she’s learned from her dad and starts moonlighting as a private investigator for her rich classmates.
Seven years after Veronica Mars’ original run ended, Veronica, Logan (Jason Dohring), Wallace (Percy Daggs III), Weevil (Francis Capra), Dick (Ryan Hansen), Keith (Enrico Colantoni) and more of the show’s cast reunited for a crowd-funded movie. Over 90,000 fans raised $5.7 million, nearly tripling creator Rob Thomas’ ask of $2 million for the film that would take place 10 years after the events of season three.
Once the Veronica Mars movie hit theaters, fans wanted more, so Thomas, Bell and most of the original cast returned to Neptune for a fourth season at Hulu. The new season highlighted the class divide in the California beach town that ran throughout the original series run, this time pitting the town’s wealth “09ers” against the working-class residents.
In honor of the 15th anniversary of season three (the end of the original run), The Hollywood Reporter looks at what some of the main cast has been up to since the show wrapped its original run in 2007.
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Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars)
Image Credit: ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection; Phillip Faraone/FilmMagic Kristen Bell plays the title character, Veronica, who solves mysteries for her classmates. In the first two seasons, Veronica tackles a different stand-alone case every episode, while working to solve a bigger mystery that takes place over the course of the entire season.
Veronica Mars was Bell’s biggest role at the time, but the actress has since become a household name in television. Shortly after Veronica Mars, Bell quickly landed TV roles — as the voice of Gossip Girl in The CW series that ran from 2007 to 2012 and in the superhero NBC drama Heroes, from 2077 to 2008. For four seasons, she later took on the role of Eleanor Shellstrop in the award-winning comedy The Good Place. And, most recently on the small screen, she toplined the buzzy Netflix satirical thriller, The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window.
On the big screen, Bell has starred in features like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Couples Retreat, When in Rome, Get Him to the Greek, Burlesque, Scream 4 and Bad Moms, among others. She’s also done voice acting for Disney, primarily voicing Anna in Frozen and Frozen II.
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Jason Dohring (Logan Echolls)
Image Credit: Robert Voets/Warner Bros. Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection; Jim Spellman/Getty Images Jason Dohring’s Logan Echolls went from being Neptune High’s “obligatory psychotic jackass,” according to Veronica in the pilot, to the dreamboat who stole her heart throughout the series, during which they had an on-again, off-again relationship.
Shortly after Veronica Mars, Dohring landed a main role in the TV series Moonlight and recurring roles in Ringer, The Originals, iZombie and SEAL Team. He also reprised his role of Logan Echolls for Ryan Hansen’s meta-comedy spinoff series Play It Again, Dick.
Dohring has starred in movies like Destined, Portrait of Love, You Are Here and Violet.
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Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television / Courtesy Everett Collection; John Lamparski/Getty Images Enrico Colantoni plays Veronica’s lovable, and sometimes overprotective, father, who was removed as the Neptune Sheriff after accusing one of the town’s richest men of murder. He owns a private investigation firm and helps Veronica with her own mysteries from time to time.
Unlike a lot of the younger stars of the show, Colantoni had an established acting career before the series first aired in 2004, with recurring roles in Hope & Gloria and Just Shoot Me! Since Veronica Mars, Colantoni’s taken on major parts in Flashpoint, Person of Interest and Station Eleven. The actor is currently making his Broadway debut opposite Debra Messing in Roundabout’s Birthday Candles.
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Percy Daggs III (Wallace Fennel)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection; Randy Shropshire/Getty Images Percy Daggs III portrays Wallace Fennel, Veronica’s best friend and often partner in crime-solving. Veronica and Wallace first meet in the pilot when he transfers to Neptune High, and the two quickly hit it off, paving the way for one of the series’ most steady friendships.
Before landing Veronica Mars, Daggs had a couple of brief appearances in Freaks and Geeks, The Amanda Show and NYPD Blue. He also reprised his role of Wallace in Play It Again, Dick and the Veronica Mars movie, with the rest of the main cast. More recently, Daggs had a recurring part in webseries The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy and had the lead role in Lifetime’s Christmas in Louisiana.
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Francis Capra (Eli "Weevil" Navarro)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Television / Courtesy Everett Collection; Erik Voake/Getty Images Francis Capra plays Eli “Weevil Navarro,” the leader of a biker gang in the area and Veronica’s friend, who helps her solve a lot of her cases, despite often being in trouble with the law.
Capra’s first gig was as Calogero in A Bronx Tale in 1993, followed by roles in Kazaam and A Simple Wish before landing Veronica Mars. He even made an appearance in another California-centric TV series, The O.C. Since the original finale, Capra has taken on roles in Criminal Minds, Friday Night Lights, Heroes and Sons of Anarchy.
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Ryan Hansen (Dick Casablancas)
Image Credit: Patrick Ecclesine / Warner Bros. Television / Courtesy Everett Collection; Roy Rochlin/Getty Images Ryan Hansen, who portrays Richard “Dick” Casablancas Jr., was upped from a recurring character in season one to a series regular in season two. Dick is one of Logan’s best friends and fellow 09er and often bullies Veronica.
Hansen has had a pretty extensive career since the original run of Veronica Mars ended. He’s had recurring roles in Rockville CA, Party Down, Friends with Benefits and 2 Broke Girls, among several other TV shows and movies.
