Nickelodeon's Monster High's latest batch of episodes brings Frankie Stein, Draculaura, Clawdeen Wolf, and the rest of their friends back for some new adventures at the titular school. Building on the revelations from the prior season and the quiet character beats filtered through the show, these new episodes put the girls on a mission to find Clawdeen's mother, confront their fears, and take on a brand-new threat to their world.
It's a big step for the latest take on the Mattel franchise that's intended to build on the history of the series in exciting new ways. During an interview with CBR, Monster High Showrunner Shea Fontana discussed broadening the scope of the animated series to include more scares and stakes, refining the character's creative DNA, and which member of the Boo Crew has caught her the most by surprise.
CBR: How does this new batch of episodes pick up the lingering threads from the previous storylines of Monster High?
Shea Fontana: As we get into the new episodes of Monster High, we're going to be able to see Clawdeen continuing her journey as she tries to find her mom. She'll be leading this epic quest with her Boo Crew to find these monster talismans so they can go to the Monster Ball -- where they'll try to bring her mom back. We also have so much more character-building that we'll be doing. We'll be able to get into a lot of the other characters like Abbey, Heath, and Deus. [We're going to] see so many more characters as we explore Monster High.
It sounds like this new batch of episodes is going to ratchet up the tension with a quest on top of the high school stories. It still looks fun and cute, but it's picking up stakes in the process. How do you approach the tonal balancing act of Monster High's soft side with these other elements?
With Monster High, we've really been able to have this kind of broad tone that ranges from silly comedy to that deep, character-driven heart that fans love. There is a deep lore that we've been building throughout the season, and we'll be able to see a lot more as we get into the second half of season one. We'll really be able to see how our characters are growing. They're learning and changing a little bit.
What can you tease about the threats of these new episodes?
In our next batch of episodes, we will have a brand new villain. They will be the big villain of this half of Monster High. We also have some very scary episodes, including one where we explore some of the nightmares that are happening at Monster High. It's super creepy because monsters have the creepiest nightmares! It's going to be really creepy and really fun exploring that monster side even more.
Monster High has really developed such a cute world. What is your favorite detail we've encountered so far in the halls of the school?
I think one of my favorite things in Monster High is the eyeball. We have this device that we use as kind of our daily journal for the characters to be able to speak into, and it looks like an actual eyeball. They're able to do their journals every day and be able to talk more about their emotions and their feelings as they encounter each adventure in Monster High.
So far, which of the Boo Crew would you say has surprised you the most?
I have to say, I've been most surprised by Cleo. When we started out with Cleo, she was just a bit of a diva. We were thinking of her in that light. But as we got to know Clea and explore her character, we got to see this other side of her -- not only with her relationship with Frankie, but we get to see this softness -- the way that she's so totally loyal to her friends, the way she loves the people around her, and a bit of that diva personality still shining through, too.
Monster High has really grown over the years. Multiple generations of kids have grown up with so many versions of these characters. What does it mean to you to help build these characters in this kind of way?
With Monster High, you're able to explore such a range of monster characters. We have the beloved characters from G1 -- we have Clawdeen, Draculaura, Frankie, all of these main characters. We've been able to grow them in new ways as we've explored them in G3 and found these new facets of their personality -- really finding what has made fans love them for the last 13-plus years and grow that DNA with it.
What are you most excited for fans to see next?
With these new episodes, fans are really going to get to learn more about our characters. We're going to be meeting a lot of the parents and caregivers of our monsters, which I'm super excited about. We have so many incredible parent characters and so many family dynamics that are happening. [For example], we have Dracula with Draculaura. There are going to be big secrets on the table with Dracula.
It's going to be really fun to explore the monsters, their families, their homes, and what else is lurking beneath the surface. With Monster High, our writers, our storytellers, and our storyboard artists have all been able to bring so many of their real authentic experiences to this show. I think that really shows. The honesty of the relationship between Dracula and Draculaura is just authentic. The way the parents are portrayed is because we bring these storytellers into the show that have those experiences. It's going to be really fun to see how fans respond to it.
Monster High is now airing on Nickelodeon.