The upcoming Monsters, Inc. spin-off series Monsters at Work has just given fans a first look at some of its new characters, and... yep, it's Monsters, Inc. alright. The teaser image for the Disney Plus exclusive show from Pixar reveals a number of the story's main monster characters, finally allowing eager potential viewers a glimpse at what their future best buddies will look like.
Monsters, Inc. already featured a world rich with stories to tell, so it's only natural that Disney would want to explore the former scare company and its larger setting of Monstropolis even further. Monsters At Work will focus on a new cast of characters at the original film's titular factory as they adjust to a new world where scream energy has given way to the exponentially more potent laugh energy. Look, this probably makes zero sense to anyone who hasn't seen the original, so maybe go check it out first. It's good. Steve Buscemi plays a lizard.
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The image features the main character Tylor Tuskmon (Ben Feldman) among a group of fellow monster workers, presumably in the Monsters, Inc. facilities room. The Monsters at Work series synopsis follows Tylor as he graduates from Monsters University at the top of his class in the art of scaring, only to find out that his dream job as a Monsters, Inc. Scarer has been rendered obsolete shortly before he's hired due to the discovery about laugh energy. As a result, he joins the Monsters, Inc. Facilities Team (MIFT), where he works with a group of lovable misfits on his new journey to become a Jokester.
Tylor is seen as the tall purple monster in the teaser image. It also features Henry Winkler's Fritz (the big one-eyed elephant sort of creature), Mindy Kaling’s Val Little (the yellow one next to Fritz), Alanna Ubach's Cutter (sporting that snazzy vest on the left), and Lucas Neff's Duncan (next to Tylor). These appear to be that group of fellow MIFT workers that Tylor has to work with due to his life turning upside down, though in a slightly different way than a certain mansion-dwelling Fresh Prince. The series will also feature the return of several movie characters, including Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal), James P. "Sully" Sullivan (John Goodman), Celia (Jennifer Tilly), new Scarer instructor Ms. Flint (Bonnie Hunt), and Roze, the sister of less-than-silky-voiced Roz (both played by Bob Peterson).
Monsters at Work seems to be really the only kind of story that should be told after the events of Monsters, Inc. The idea of what happens to the company and its workers after the whole city changes its infrastructure to work on laughs instead of screams is a novel concept, and since it's a pretty optimistic outcome, it opens the way for some more comforting and lower stakes events to take place. Fans have enjoyed brief glimpses of that new world through animated shorts as well as a full level in Kingdom Hearts 3, but nothing as substantial as a full series.
So hopefully this will be a satisfying look into a happier setting for the Monsters, Inc. characters viewers have grown to love, as well as the new cast that also aims to win their hearts. Maybe they'll update Disney World's "Laugh Floor" show after this too.
Monsters at Work premieres exclusively on Disney Plus on July 2, 2021.
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Source: IGN