I love Central Park. It's an animated musical comedy full of rapturous joy and beyond-catchy tunes, and I said as much in my review. But there's one very key element of it I did not love from the very beginning: The casting of Kristen Bell as a biracial character. We heard that they would recast the role with a Black actor some time ago, and now the new performer has been announced. Per Variety, meet your new Molly: Emmy Raver-Lampman.

Raver-Lampman is a musical theater vet. She's an original ensemble member of Hamilton and has performed as Pearl Krabs in SpongeBob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical. She can also currently be seen in the main role of Allison "The Rumor" Hargreeves on Netflix's The Umbrella Academy. Raver-Lampman will begin voicing the role of Molly, who is the daughter of fellow Hamilton alum Leslie Odom Jr. and Kathryn Hahn, in season two of Central Park. Other returning castmates to the Apple TV+ show include Tituss Burgess, Hamilton alum Daveed Diggs, Stanley Tucci, and Josh Gad.

My thoughts about this recasting news? Good! It's really freaking annoying that it took creators Gad, Loren Bouchard, and Nora Smith this long to cast a Black person to play a Black character, forcing fans of the show and character (like me!) to have to reckon with the fact that it has a heaping scoopful of privilege and racism on its side. The correct decision for this casting should've been "before the show started airing," but I'm glad they're at least correcting the decision and making proactive ones moving forward. All folks can do is try and define and correct mistakes, and that decision deserves some kudos. All of that aside: Raver-Lampman is such a wonderful performer, and I cannot wait to see what she does with the character.

For more on Raver-Lampman, here's our own Adam Chitwood on the pleasures of The Umbrella Academy.