Where You've Seen The Cast Of Hulu's Reboot Before

By now, the idea of rebooting an established piece of Hollywood IP is so ingrained in entertainment culture that it's hardly a surprise when a show like 2017's "One Day at a Time" pops up on a streaming service like Netflix. Younger viewers may not even be aware that a show is a reboot, which is probably fine — the less the audience needs to know an original source, the more a reboot can stand on its own. That said, knowing an original show — understanding the context in which it first lived and breathed — can color one's experience of a reboot. That understanding — that context is, indeed, everything — is what Steven Levitan, creator of "Modern Family" and Hulu's upcoming "Reboot," is banking on; just because a show's being reincarnated on a streaming service doesn't mean it leaves its baggage behind.

Hulu's "Reboot" is about a sitcom called "Step Right Up" that is being, well, rebooted ... on Hulu. There's just as much truth as comedy in the endeavor, according to Levitan's chat with Entertainment Weekly. "I like this sort of notion of people getting a second chance in life. That's what I thought to be ... intriguing, that you go off and you do your first thing, and it's a hit, you and you think that life's going to work out a certain way from that point on. Then life sinks you down a little bit sometimes, and it doesn't turn out the way you thought. Then you got to come back to where you were ... I like the idea that these people are getting a second chance and hopefully can do it better this time."

In "Reboot," Rachel Bloom is Hannah, a sitcom writer who proposes a fresh take on "Step Right Up," but from a modern perspective. Bloom is, of course, best known as the star of the CW musical dramedy "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," which she co-created and executive produced with Aline Brosh McKenna. For her award-winning performance as the mercurial Rebecca Bunch, Bloom took cues from her own struggles with mental illness. The series concerns a lawyer who leaves Manhattan in pursuit of a man she met at camp 10 years earlier, only to discover friends and love interests in her newfound home of West Covina, California. A four-time Emmy nominee and one-time winner for the songwriting on "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," Bloom also gained fame for her viral videos, including the famous "F*** Me, Ray Bradbury." Her later writing and voiceover work includes credits on the Adult Swim series "Robot Chicken," "My Little Pony," "BoJack Horseman," "The Simpsons," and "Allen Gregory." Next up for Bloom — Paul Feig and Netflix's "The School for Good & Evil," opposite Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, and Michelle Yeoh, slated for an October 2022 release.

With relatively few TV credits to his name save for brief appearances on "The Terminal List," "Kenan," and "iCarly," Kenneth Mosley is set to make his biggest small-screen splash yet. It's possible you noticed him in the background of a 2014 episode of "Bones" or a 2015 episode of "Grey's Anatomy," but television hasn't really been Mosley's primary claim to fame until very recently. Before "Reboot," Mosley was definitely best known for playing the vivacious Lola in the 2018 national tour of the Tony Award-winning "Kinky Boots." After returning from an overseas tour in China and Singapore, Mosley and co. made stops in more than 80 North American cities, eventually landing in Mosley's hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Interacting with Instagram followers, Mosley admitted that while he loved "that [the] show [was] so fun and meaningful" and was "incredibly enjoyable to tell this story every night," he would not have survived without water and Uber Eats. One has a feeling that after "Reboot," Mosley will be dining out on craft services for a while.

Actor, writer, and producer Keegan-Michael Key plays Reed Sterling, the Yale-educated star of the original "Step Right Up" who attempts to break into films following the original sitcom's demise. If the "Reboot" trailer is any indication, he doesn't have an easy time of it. 

Since coming to prominence as one half of the famed comedy duo Key & Peele, whose eponymous show ran on Comedy Central from 2012 to 2015, Key worked on the musical send-up "Schmigadoon!" for Apple TV+ and appeared alongside his old partner Jordan Peele in Season 1 of FX's "Fargo." He's also in Judd Apatow's "The Bubble" for Netflix and has voiced animated characters in the Disney+ movie "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers," Amazon Prime's "Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania," and plenty of other projects. Key has also appeared in Netflix's "Dolemite Is My Name," Paramount's "Playing with Fire," and Disney's "Toy Story 4," "The Lion King," and "Pinocchio." Upcoming for the funnyman — another "Key & Peele" reunion on the animated "Wendell & Wild" for Netflix, and "Wonka" for Warner Bros.

Having grown up in Bogotá and Cartagena, Colombia, before relocating to California at the age of 12, Mauricio Mendoza drew early inspiration from both Raúl Juliá and Esai Morales to seek a career in the arts. His career includes three seasons as a series regular on Showtime's "Resurrection Blvd.," a season of the Telemundo series "Ángeles" (a Latino version of "Charlie's Angels"), "Hacienda Heights" for MegaTV, and "La Quinceañera" from Stage 13. He's been contributing small roles to TV since the late '90s, with a 2017 "Curb Your Enthusiasm" episode, a 2019 episode of "The Rookie," and a 2020 "NCIS: Los Angeles" counted among his most recent on-screen credits. Aside from being a busy, working actor, Mendoza and his wife, Yeniffer Behrens, run a production company that offers acting classes. On "Reboot," he plays Daniel, the executive we see at the very beginning of the show's trailer who announces that Hulu is "on the lookout for great new shows." Time will tell if "Reboot" fits that bill.

On "Reboot," Judy Greer is Bree Marie Larson*, an actor from rural Virginia who, after her turn on the original "Step Right Up," wound up in a "low budget sci-fi cable show" akin to an ersatz "Star Trek: The Next Generation." In contrast, Greer's career has been expansive, to the tune of almost 200 roles since the turn of the millennium. 

To name just a few: Greer appeared in the Blumhouse reboot of "Halloween" alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as its sequel, "Halloween Kills." MCU fans will recognize her as Scott Lang's ex-wife Maggie in "Ant-Man" and "Ant-Man & The Wasp." The word "iconic" gets overused these days, but we feel it's an appropriate descriptor for her turn as deranged party animal secretary Kitty Sanchez in "Arrested Development." She's also been in the Peacock limited series "The Thing About Pam" with Renée Zellweger, the Showtime limited series "The First Lady" with Michelle Pfeiffer, Viola Davis, and Gillian Anderson; the Showtime series "Kidding" with Jim Carrey, and for the past 12 years, Greer has voiced the role of Cheryl on "Archer." 

Greer's feature credits beyond Marvel and Blumhouse include "Jurassic World," the Academy Award-winning "The Descendants" starring George Clooney, "Adaptation" opposite Nicolas Cage, and of course, "The Hebrew Hammer," in which she starred as Esther Bloomenbergensteinenthal. 

[*In the trailer, Bree's last name sounds like it's pronounced "Jensen." According to IMDb, the character's name is "Larson." Stay tuned.]

At least one "Reboot" cast member was the subject of a representation bidding war this past spring, and if you guessed it was Kristian Flores, you'd be correct. This has been a banner year for the USC grad, who plays Connor on "Reboot"; his book "The Goodbye Song" won the 2021 American Fiction Award in poetry anthologies, and he appeared in the Nicholas Cage-starring meta-comedy "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent." On the horizon, Flores has been cast in the YA series "School Spirits" alongside Peyton List at Paramount Plus.

According to his personal bio, Flores' commitment to service has been recognized by several humanitarian organizations, municipalities, and leaders, including former President Obama and the City of Los Angeles. He's traveled to the Dominican Republic to paint schools, construct fences, play sports, and build kitchens. He also went to Lourdes, France to work with disabled and elderly folks. Regarding his multi-hyphenate status, Flores says on his website, "I do not find these three things — acting, writing, and service — to be dissimilar to each other. There may be a logic to the way each contributes to humanity, but they inform each other. Society trusts the artist to not just teach goodness, but to be good."

A criminally underrated television character actor, Rose Abdoo is instantly familiar to audiences as Stars Hollow's official mechanic Gypsy on the staple 2000s dramedy "Gilmore Girls," and returned to the role for its one-season sequel on Netflix, 2016's "Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life." Meanwhile, mid-'00s viewers who were too young for the WB at the time might recognize Abdoo as Senorita Rodriguez on "That's So Raven."

Abdoo got her start in Chicago's famous Second City troupe and appeared in their E.T.C. show "We Made a Mesopotamia, Now You Clean It Up" winning a 1991 Joseph Jefferson Award for best actress in a revue.  Abdoo's another actor having a busy year. Along with playing Selma in "Reboot," she is currently appearing in Season 2 of HBO's "Hacks," she will also be joining the cast of the CBS sitcom "Ghosts." For her work in both HBO's "Hacks" and the 2005 film "Good Night and Good Luck" about Edward R. Murrow, Abdoo received a Screen Actors Guild nomination for best ensemble along with her fellow actors.

If anyone's been having a career renaissance, it's Paul Reiser. He started 2022 with an Emmy nomination for "The Kominsky Method," then made an indelible cameo as Vought's former head of hero management The Legend on "The Boys." He also reprised his role as Dr. Owens in the summer's greatest hit, Season 4 of "Stranger Things." Now, Reiser's back as a regular on a TV series for the first time since "Mad About You" established him as a TV star. In "Reboot," he plays Gordon, the creator of "Step Right Up," who returns to a multiracial writers' room and asks, "Is this one of those diversity intern training things?" You've come a long way, baby.

Nominated for four Golden Globes and 11 Emmys, and the author of three best-selling books — "Couplehood," "Babyhood," and "Familyhood," — Reiser has appeared in such classic films as "Aliens," "Beverly Hills Cop," "Diner," and "Whiplash."

Where were you between December 2, 2011, and January 10, 2016? If that was anywhere near the Disney Channel, then you probably had a tough time ignoring "Austin & Ally," the immensely popular show co-starring Calum Worthy. The Canadian multi-hyphenate played Dez, an aspiring director with a funky fashion sense who, as Austin's best bud, films all of Austin's music videos. Worthy's back on "Reboot" playing Zack, a former child actor pressed back into service.

Worthy's been seen in Hulu's "The Act"; Netflix's "American Vandal"; the award-winning independent film "Bodied" produced by Eminem, and he had a starring role opposite Ed Helms in "Corporate Animals." Recently Worthy voiced the lead in the new Netflix animated series "Pacific Rim: The Black," took a role on the streamer's live-action series "Pieces of Her," and voiced multiple characters in Hulu's "Solar Opposites." Worthy is extremely active on social media, where he advocates for environmental causes, Bono's ONE organization, and the rights of women and girls in developing countries.

Krista Marie Yu plays tech exec turned television creative exec Elaine on "Reboot" — or, as the trailer will have us believe, the "vice president of comedy" at Hulu, despite having no comedic background whatsoever. Fortunately, that isn't the case for Yu herself, a veteran of several sitcoms including ABC's "Dr. Ken" and Fox's "Last Man Standing," as well as the late, lamented "Thundermans," the Kids Choice Award-winning Nickelodeon show on which Yu appeared in the recurring role of Ashley.

In fact, we should probably be grateful Yu made it into comedy at all, given her original desire was to be a professional ice skater. "Ice skating definitely gave me lots of confidence," she told the Mercury News. "It taught me discipline and how to deal with disappointment. I think it definitely helped me feel more comfortable in front of people." Skating led Yu to a local youth song-and-dance outfit called Showbiz before she continued her training at Carnegie Mellon.

Fred Melamed, who plays Alan on "Reboot," is a true "that guy who was in that thing." Praised by Vulture as among the top 32 currently working character actors, Melamed's credits are far too numerous to list, but audiences will remember him best as the villainous Sy Ableman in The Coen Brothers' "A Serious Man," Viz's boss in "WandaVision," Tom Posorro in "Barry," and William Ginsberg in "Impeachment: American Crime Story." He also holds the (dubious?) distinction of appearing in more Woody Allen films than anyone aside from Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow, and, of Allen himself.

Melamed's theatrical pedigree goes back to his training at the Yale School of Drama and subsequent appearances at regional theaters, but he's best known for his career on TV and in film. Recent work includes Maria Bamford's "Lady Dynamite," Hulu's "Casual," Emma Seligman's indie darling "Shiva Baby," and Dr. Goldman in Season 5 of Bill Burr's "F is for Family." With a career this expansive, you'd think Melamed's worked with everyone, but in an interview with Movieweb, he revealed his dream collaborator: "I'd say the person whose work I absolutely love and have not yet worked with [is] Paul Thomas Anderson. I'm a huge fan. I think he's fantastic."

Playing Clay Barber, a raunchy standup comedian whose only acting job was on the original "Step Right Up" before descending into a career marred by bad behavior (according to the trailer, a "drug charge and disorderly conduct"), Knoxville should feel right at home in "Reboot." Knoxville is, after all, the actor and filmmaker most known for starring in and producing the "Jackass" franchise, including the film's sequels: "Jackass Number Two," "Jackass 3D," "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa," and most recently, Paramount's "Jackass Forever." Knoxville has appeared in more standard fare of late, starring alongside Michael Shannon in "Elvis & Nixon," Jonas Akerlund's "Small Apartments" with Billy Crystal, James Caan, and Matt Lucas; the Farrelly Brothers' "The Ringer," Catherine Hardwicke's "Lords of Dogtown" alongside Heath Ledger and Emile Hirsch; "Above Suspicion" with Emilia Clarke, and Netflix's "Polar" with Mads Mikkelsen. At WrestleMania 38, Knoxville defeated onetime NXT Champion Sami Zayn, which means in addition to Knoxville's accomplishments in acting and stunt performance, he is a certified force in the world of combat sports.