There’s a new show from Marc Brown, the creator of Arthur, coming soon. And just like Arthur, every character of Hop—which premieres April 4 on Max—has an original point of view.
Hop, which Max calls a “younger continuation of Arthur,” follows Hop the frog (David Connolly), his older sister Penny (Misha Bakshi), and their neighborhood pals in Fair Village. What’s special about Hop, apart from being a sister series to Arthur, is that all of the characters have different disabilities. For example: Hop has one leg that’s shorter than the other. Filipa (Charlotte Walker), a friend of Penny’s, is neurodivergent. Even Hop’s next-door neighbor—who only appears on occasion—is blind.
This idea, Brown explains, actually stemmed from Arthur. “With Arthur, we occasionally invented a character who had a disability, but they never became a meaningful part of the ensemble cast,” Brown tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed over Zoom, sitting in front of a wall full of Arthur and Hop artwork. “I felt like this was an opportunity, because whenever we did those characters in Arthur, we got such an incredible amount of letters from kids thanking us. They were seeing themselves.”
Arthur creator Marc Brown.
Then came the idea for Hop. “Why not include kids who are not often enough seen in the media?” Brown says. “They just happen to have these disabilities. It never defines who they are or what they can accomplish.”
Brown took a lot of other aspects of Arthur into Hop, because that sweet little aardvark and his friends have never left his mind. The creator remembers all those memes—from the clenched fist to “That sign can’t stop me because I can’t read!”—fondly. “I hope that happens with Hop,” Brown adds.
Below, Brown chats about how working on Arthur led him to Hop, what’s next for the Arthur franchise—including a potential feature film in the works—and how his close friend Fred Rogers continues to inspire all of his creations.
What inspired you to make Hop?
Well, we knew that we wanted to end Arthur in year 25. It was just an amazing run. I learned so much about telling stories through a different medium, because I was a picture book guy. When PBS came to me [in 1997], they had this wonderful agenda to use animation to make kids want to read. That’s where we started with Arthur.
The cast of Hop.
I can’t believe it was six years ago that I did this little doodle of a frog with one leg shorter than the other—I felt like there was something there. I’ve always wanted to work for younger kids. All through Arthur, I saw this potential there. I had a good friend in Fred Rogers, who really inspired me using television for that age group.
Tell me more about how Fred impacted you and your work on Arthur and Hop.
Oh my God, where do you start? Fred was our second guest star on Arthur. [The Arthur team was] all going to meet him in Pittsburgh in his studio, but I missed my flight from Boston Logan Airport. I was so frustrated. When I got to the ticket booth at the airport, I said, “I need to get to Pittsburgh!” The woman there is like, “Yeah, right. Go take a seat.” And I said, “But I have a meeting with Mister Rogers.” She goes, “The Mister Rogers?” I say, “Yeah.” Then, she goes, “Well, just a minute!” And then she got me on the next plane to Pittsburgh in first class.
Oh my goodness. That’s an incredible story.
I took a little Arthur doll with me. Let’s see, I’ve got one right here. [Retrieves Arthur doll.] And I took the book that my wife Laurie and I did together called When Dinosaurs Die, because I knew he had just lost John Costa, who played the piano on [Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood] for many years. I was waiting in the office, and the receptionist said, “Well, why don’t you just go down? You can wait in Fred’s offices at the end of the hall.” Everyone was at lunch, and I opened the door, and there was Fred on his sofa in this little den room with shag carpeting and awards covering every inch of the walls.
We had this wonderful day together, and we talked about him losing his friend. He never referred to it as “dying” or “death.” He always said, “He went to heaven.” After this wonderful day, I said goodbye and I leave his office, and as I’m walking down the hall, I hear this little voice behind me. [In a high-pitched voice] “Marc, Marc?” Fred had opened the door to his office and he had Arthur sticking out. He says, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be just fine.” We had a friendship that lasted many years. I think about him almost every day. I just hope that Hop has a shred of his heart and hopefulness for kids.
In Hop, all of the characters have a different disability. How did you research those disabilities to accurately portray them? You also have some voice actors who have similar experiences as their characters, like Charlotte Walker, who has autism, and David Connolly, who has a double below-knee amputation. Why was it important to include their voices?
We worked with an amazing group called RespectAbility. Every show passed through their offices. With their expertise, we wanted to get everything right. We found some wonderful voice talent. Charlotte, who voices Filipa’s character, loves animation. Our director, Bruce, discovered her at an animation camp where he taught. He said, “I know this girl, she’s so talented. I think we should audition her.” She turned out to be terrific.
And Hop—David has no legs from the knees down. He is the first dancer on Broadway who has that disability. He really understands what Hop is going through, although [the disability] is just there. Once in a while we’ll see Hop struggle with something, but it’s just a tiny reminder to kids that it doesn’t get in his way.
Aardvarks have become iconic following Arthur. How did you decide on frogs and the other animals you wanted to spotlight in Hop?
That’s a really good question. I think the frog just came from that doodle. I always imagine what siblings a character might have. All of a sudden, there was Penny, who was a little bit older than Hop but acting a lot younger. I imagine if Lucille Ball and Amy Schumer got married and had a love child, it would be Hoot [an owl voiced by Makeda Bromfield]. People remind me of animals. It’s a crazy thing that I do, I’ll be talking on the phone with someone and I’ll imagine a snake at the other end.
Arthur and Buster.
Well, now I want to know what animal you think I am.
[Laughs] You could be Buster’s cousin.
OK, that’s a huge compliment! Hop is for a younger audience, but do you think older Arthur fans will still take a liking to it?
When we started Arthur, we found this really unusual thing happening: We were getting kids to watch Arthur who were much younger than our target audience and much older. Even Sesame Street learned from Arthur. They learned that the stories we were building were much more complex than what kids were getting, and I think that’s what made Arthur so popular. Kids knew that they weren’t being talked down to.
What has it been like for you in the past two years following the end of Arthur?
I’d love to see an Arthur feature film happen. I’ve dabbled in that concept a little bit. I would love to play around with CGI animation and have fun with a different look. But I’m very critical about the software that would enable these characters to have a world. It’s getting better, but it hasn’t reached a level yet that I’m really excited about. So I’ll stick with my little 2D world.
What would an Arthur film look like?
If there was a feature film for Arthur, I would want to give kids something that they haven’t seen. Something new. I would love to see him enter junior high and talk to kids about what that world is like and focus on the power of social media.
I also see D.W.—maybe she’s in Mr. Ratburn’s class, and it’s a whole different ball game, because she’s D.W. Of all the characters, it was D.W. I enjoyed [writing] for the most, because she’s just so crazy. She’s a combination of my three younger sisters. She’s just full of fun and fire. Look out!
Why do you think Arthur has had such an impact on several generations?
It’s a very simple answer—the stories all originate in real life. There’s an immediate connection with the issues that Arthur and his friends are dealing with, because they’re things that you’ve probably experienced in your life. I started out with the Arthur books, and each one of those is based on an issue that one of my kids was struggling with. [My son] Tolon was afraid to go to day camp in first or second grade—that turned into Arthur going to camp. [My other son] Tucker had a loose tooth that wouldn’t come out in second grade, and everyone in his class had lost teeth; then, Arthur’s tooth happened.
When Arthur aired, it told stories based on real problems kids were facing at that time. What issues would a version of Arthur tackle today?
The media has changed so much in that time from when Arthur began—especially for kids who are maybe going into middle school, even younger—with social media. I’d love to do something for kids about social media. I think it would be interesting to have Arthur get a little older and maybe revisit that world in junior high, where kids are dealing with very different problems than they did in the younger version of Arthur. Kids are bombarded by the media. There’s so much junk that’s being offered to children that really makes me sick when I see it. They deserve better.
I need to know—would Arthur ever make an appearance in Hop?
[Laughs] He’s lost! He’s walking down the main street in Fair Village and he’s like, “I don’t know where I am!” That’s a really interesting idea that you’re planting. We don’t have any plans for that, but I should bring it up at our next creative meeting. That could be fun.
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