Kate McKinnon is adding another famed character to her canon.
The Saturday Night Live star has been tapped to voice Ms. Frizzle in Netflix’s upcoming Magic School Bus reboot, it was announced Wednesday.
Magic School Bus Rides Again will feature a modernized Ms. Frizzle and her class along with an inventive high-tech bus. The series also will highlight the latest tech innovations such as robotics, wearables and camera technology — just as in the original PBS show — to encourage children’s interest in science.
Scholastic Media president Deborah Forte (Clifford the Big Red Dog, Goosebumps) serves as executive producer on the new project, with director Chris Gilligan (Ice Age: The Meltdown, James and the Giant Peach) also onboard. Formerly titled Magic School 360, the reboot was first greenlighted in 2014 with an order for 26 half-hour episodes.
McKinnon steps into the voice role formerly occupied by Lily Tomlin (who currently stars on Netflix’s live-action comedy Grace and Frankie). Tomlin voiced Ms. Frizzle for the original animated series’ entire 52-episode run. Based on the series of books of the same name by Joanna Cole, the first Magic School Bus series premiered on PBS in 1994 and ran through 1998, continuing to air in repeats for years after.
A castmember of Saturday Night Live since 2012, McKinnon won her first Emmy for her work on the NBC show in September. Over the years, the comedian has become known for her impersonations of Hillary Clinton and Ellen DeGeneres, among many others. Her film credits include Ghostbusters and Office Christmas Party, in addition to her other recent voice work in Finding Dory and The Angry Birds Movie.
