Tracee Ellis Ross to Lead ‘Daria’ Spinoff ‘Jodie’ for MTV Studios

MTV Studios is tapping black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross for its Daria spinoff Jodie.

The actress will executive produce and star in the series which follows Daria’s friend Jodie Landon. According to The Hollywood Reporter, there is no network attached to the project, but Jodie is considered one of what MTV Studio’s hopes is many series in the “Daria Universe.”

Related

MTV Rebooting 'The Real World' on Facebook Watch

News about a Daria spinoff broke last year when MTV Studios announced it would revive Aeon Flux, Made and The Real world as well as introduce a few new projects. Jodie will be written by Insecure‘s Grace Nkenge Edwards and will center around Jodie’s first real job after college.

Working in tech, the series will see the character navigate adult life with a few familiar faces from Lawndale High popping up here and there. Among some of the topics set to be satirized by Jodie are privilege, Gen Z struggles, empowerment both gender and racial as well as workplace culture.

(Credit: MTV)

“Being able to give voice to fresh, feminist and unexplored stories of young women excites me,” Ross said in a statement. “Jodie will spin off from the cult classic Daria, and with the brilliant, sweet and sarcastic black-girl magic that is Jodie Landon, we will feature a diverse cast, comprised mainly of unapologetically smart and ambitious young female characters who are vulnerable and flawed and interesting and funny.”

“As a very cool bonus, Jodie will be the first adult animated show in almost 20 years that will star a black woman,” Ross added. “It will be a smart, funny workplace comedy full of commentary about everything from gentrification to sex to tech to call-out culture.”

The original series ran on MTV from 1997 through 2002 and was a spinoff of the network’s other popular animated series Beavis and Butt-Head.