Even Netflix's hit animated series about puberty is "going through chaaaaaanges!" Each one of Big Mouth's previous three seasons has been released around the start of October. And yet in the unprecedented 2020, Season 4 won't be released until a couple months later.
Big Mouth is best known for turning uncomfortable concepts like hormones, shame, and depression into fantastical creatures. It stars Nick Kroll as many of the characters with an all-star voice acting team that includes the likes of John Mulaney, Jordan Peele, Jason Mantzoukas, Maya Rudolph, and formerly Jenny Slate.
Season 3 debuted back in October 2019, and the series already has a lengthy, hormone-fueled future ahead since it was picked up for Seasons 4, 5, and 6. There’s even a Human Resources spin-off in the works, so we can all expect plenty more Big Mouth episodes until at least 2022.
But for now, here's everything we know about the upcoming Season 4.
When is the Big Mouth Season 4 release date?
Netflix announced on November 13 that Big Mouth Season 4 would be released on December 4, 2020. That's roughly two months later than expected, but it's still a welcome announcement nonetheless.
Coincidentally, it also aligns with our previous predictions.
Netflix publishes a list of upcoming releases around the 21st of every month. The November 2020 lineup of titles, released on October 21, didn't include Big Mouth whatsoever. In some cases in the past, Netflix would include a show on documents like this but not include the date.
The January 2018 edition released in late December 2017, for instance, listed The Punisher Season 2 as "coming soon." The January 18, 2018 release date wasn't formally announced until early January. Which is to say that if Big Mouth were being released in November 2020, Netflix probably would have included it similarly. So keep that little tidbit in your back pocket when you're wondering about Season 5 down the line.
Is there a Big Mouth Season 4 trailer yet?
There sure is!
In the trailer, everyone is at summer camp, where all of the children have gathered after Season 3 ended at the conclusion of the school year. But somewhat quickly, we're back in school (so we expect summer camp to only last a few episodes at the start of the season).
Everything's a bit chaotic, but the most notable addition is a new kind of monster called Tito the Anxiety Mosquito (Maria Bamford). Previous seasons complemented the Hormone Monsters with the Shame Wizard and Menopause Banshee, so it seems like this is the Season 4 manifestation of psychological complexities.
Who are the Big Mouth Season 4 guest stars?
Netflix announced a list of guest stars with the release of the Season 4 trailer on November 13. In addition to Maria Bamford joining the show as Tito, there's also Zach Galifianakis' Gratitoad, "who is there to help our crew cope with their anxiety and not let it completely own them."
But the following guest stars have also been confirmed: Seth Rogen, Josie Totah, Lena Waithe, Quinta Brunson, John Oliver, Sterling K. Brown, Paul Giamatti, Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle.
Seth Rogen voices a chubby child at camp named Seth Goldberg who seems a bit older than the core cast. John Oliver plays a camp counselor named Harry who wears socks with his sandals, which is already the most monstrous thing about Season 4.
Are there any other Big Mouth Season 4 casting changes?
Actress Jenny Slate left the show in July 2020, reasoning that "Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people." Slate, who is Jewish and white, voiced Missy, a young girl who is half-Jewish, half-Black.
Her decision came roughly a month after the killing of George Floyd at a time when the entertainment industry began to reckon more directly with a lack of diversity in terms of representation across TV and film. A lengthy statement on Slate's Instagram account goes into further detail.
That same day, show co-creator Nick Kroll released a statement via Twitter on behalf of the other creators in support of Slate's decision.
"We sincerely apologize for and regret our initial decision to cast a white actor to voice a biracial character," it reads, conveying the intention to recast the character with a Black actor to better represent her identity.
Netflix then announced on August 28, 2020 that comedy writer and performer Ayo Edebiri would assume the role of Missy in the penultimate episode of Season 4.
“I was definitely a very uncomfortable child, so I think the show speaks to that and a lot of those feelings, which still resonate with me as an adult,” Edebiri told Variety. “I’m back home in my childhood bedroom right now and on my bookshelf in between ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ is Bill Clinton’s autobiography and Nelson Mandela’s autobiography and a translation of ‘The Iliad’ in Latin. I was a true dork. So I don’t think I have to go too far to connect with Missy.”
Edebiri actually joined the Big Mouth team as a writer on Season 5 before being tapped for this new role, and there is reportedly a "moment" in the second-to-last episode of Season 4 that felt like a natural fit for some transition to happen for Missy. (We see a bit of this in the trailer, where Missy ditches her overalls for good.)
“It’s about Missy’s continued evolution as a person — that she has all of these different parts of who she is," Kroll teased to Variety. "There’s the sidelines Missy and the more sexually adventurous Missy, mirror Missy, and then also this Missy that she’s been discovering [in Season 4] through hanging out with her cousins and really taking a look at her Black identity."
So it sounds like Big Mouth will dive into some meta-commentary with the character as Missy spends time with Black members of her family, and that will cause an identity shift that manifests as the change in voice. It's a provocative approach to really say something about the phenomenon; We'd expect nothing less from a show this smart.
How did the end of Big Mouth Season 3 set up Season 4?
The last few episodes of Season 3 shattered the core friend group of Big Mouth.
After Nick kissed Missy in a later episode and even went on a date with her, Andrew discovered and took the betrayal really hard. It drove a wedge so big between the former best friends that in the finale, Andrew essentially broke up with Nick and didn’t go to summer camp. But in the trailer, Andrew still shows up at summer camp anyway. The two seem to gain new best friends
Similarly, Missy finds herself ostracized from both boys when Nick realizes he doesn’t want to date her. Kissing Nick also triggered a breakup between her and Lars, so everyone winds up alone.
Another dramatic change for the series is that Jessi’s mother decided that they were moving to New York City, leaving Missy with one less female friend. Matthew also expresses disappointment at her leaving, but during the superhero episode, Jessi’s truth powers reveal that he isn’t all that worried because he has his new boyfriend Aidan. Jessi still shows up at summer camp, however, so for all the ways that the Season 3 finale shook up the status quo, it seems like it'll be restored in Season 4.
Will there be a Big Mouth Season 4 crossover with Human Resources?
During the New York Comic Con 2019 panel ahead of Big Mouth Season 3’s release, Nick Kroll teased that the show might return to the world of the hormone monsters in future seasons, and later on, he confirmed that a spinoff called Human Resources was in development.
“It’s about the monsters and the creatures who manage people,” Kroll said to the enthusiastic crowd at NYCC. “We’re excited to tell a lot of different stories, not just about puberty, but about all stages of life.”
He also confirmed that they’d start production on the new series only after finishing Big Mouth Season 5, so it’s possible we might get a backdoor pilot episode of sorts if the show revisits that world like it did in the Season 2 finale.
Big Mouth Season 4 will be released on Netflix in fall 2020.
