New SpongeBob spinoff feature film Plankton: The Movie debuts next Friday March 7th on Netflix. Director Dave Needham (The Loud House Movie) and stars Mr. Lawrence (Plankton) and Jill Talley (the voice of Karen) join me for a deep dive into the latest Bikini Bottom adventure. (These interviews were conducted separately. This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Last time we talked about “The Loud House Movie”. Do you go right from that to “Plankton: The Movie”?
Dave Needham: Yeah, I did. I was at Nickelodeon and they asked me if I was interested in working in the “SpongeBob” world. I love villains. I thought this could be so much fun — getting to do a “SpongeBob” movie that’s a little bit different. I always pitched it as, “You know what a “SpongeBob” movie is. He’s the happiest character in the world. It’s sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. My movie’s just gonna be a little bit off to the side of that, being a little bit weirder.” It was a privilege to get to play in that world.
JM: This film is so many different genres, so clearly that was one of your goals. You wanted the whole package.
DN: Oh yeah. It’s an overload. A key part of it is that it’s a musical. We got Bret McKenzie, who won an Oscar for “The Muppets”, the Mothersbaugh brothers, Linda Perry and others. They were all amazing to work with. And not only are they super catchy but they really progress the story.
JM: Do you remember the first time you saw Plankton and Karen and that dynamic?
Dave Needham
DN: I remember mostly the first movie [in 2004], when he’s looking at Plan Z. She’s the brains of the combo. And in this movie… she’s waited 25 years supporting Plankton and she finally snaps. She’s had enough. She’s a real threat because she’s the real deal. She really could take over the world. That’s something interesting and cool in this movie. She could succeed. She’s got the skills.
JM: What the movie’s really about is trying to repair Plankton and Karen’s relationship, which is deep and a little different from what we’ve seen before. What was the thought process behind going as deep comedically and emotionally as you do?
DN: It goes back to Doug [Lawrence]. This is his story — the story he’s wanted to tell for, I think, 20 years. We really get to go back and see Plankton as a kid. We get to explore those key moments in his growth.
JM: What do you think the SpongeBob brand stands for?
DN: I’ve never thought about this before, but I think it’s about childhood. SpongeBob’s kind of like a man-child. He has a job but he has the joy of a child and the sort of naivete like a child. It’s super fun to see a character who has an adult role in that world but still has the joy of a child.
JM: SpongeBob and Patrick — one of the most iconic duos of all-time. So is Plankton and Karen. Do you like that pairing dynamic?
DN: Oh yeah. Definitely. Plankton and SpongeBob together is the perfect ‘odd couple’.
JM: That’s true too!
DN: And they have different objectives as well, even though the other one might not know about it to start with. And we get to team-up Patrick with SpongeBob towards the later part of the movie. I love that all Patrick does in this is eat. (laughs)
JM: This is such a fun movie. Mr. Lawrence, Dave just told me you’ve had this idea for 20 years. How does it feel to finally have it out here after 20 years?
Mr. Lawrence: Yeah, It was almost that long. (laughs) We’ve always stuff on the show that we’ve had to decide how we’re going to do more with Plankton and Karen as a couple… and do more with them so that it’s not just a one-note joke and bickering all the time. There’s been a ramp up to this movie rather than an idea over that time. The episodes themselves have been a ramp up to this movie and how we write the characters and how they go through the relationship is a set up for what’s happening here. I did want to do it earlier… but it was a bigger idea, and it needed to be a special or a movie, and luckily we needed a movie at the time, so it turned into a movie.
Jill Talley, Mr. Lawrence and Jackson Murphy
JM: It is a big movie. Jill, it’s more of Karen than ever before, visually, and was it more challenging for you vocally with the new songs and vocal ranges of the different Karens that we see?
Jill Talley: You have no idea. (laughs) It was challenging. When they first came to me and told me this is what’s gonna happen, “She’s gonna split and have different heads and different voices”, I was like, “Okay…” Karen is pretty monotone and lives vocally in this one plane. That was challenging, but once we landed on it and worked with Dave, Tom [Kenny] and Doug, then it became really fun. And the singing was scary too but in the end it became fun.
JM: Mr. Lawrence, when you’re in the booth recording for this movie or an episode, like “Plankton’s Army” from 2004 when we see the reveal of Sheldon as Plankton’s first name, do you know, “I think this is a moment that’s gonna last or have so much impact”?
ML: No. Never. I mean, “My Leg!”? That’s ridiculous. It turned into something people picked up on. When we’re doing this stuff, we’re just hoping it’s funny.
JT: And we try to make each other laugh.
JM: So much has lasted. I got to visit the recording booth at Nickelodeon in 2019, and I whispered, “Is mayonnaise an instrument?” just so I say that I said it in the room.
ML & JT: (laugh)
JM: Jill, are there parallels [from] now to 2004 when the first “SpongeBob” movie came out in theaters… nerves and this kind of an impact of a Karen and Plankton story? Do you feel similar vibes 20 years later?
JT: Yeah, going to see the screening at Nickelodeon, I felt a lot of anticipation and nervous energy. It was really exciting to see it.
ML: And you see the billboards of the movie too. To see Sandy get a movie and get a whole story about her was great for us to work on, and then to do this — take a slightly different turn with these characters. That’s what you always hope for: to continue to do new and exciting things with the same characters you’ve been working with for years. We’re kind of patrons of these characters, so we always want to do right by them. We want it to always be true to character and be funny, and if we accomplish those two things, then we did it.
JM: I’ve been a SpongeBob fan my whole life. You deliver here. There are some great callbacks here to previous moments. Mr. Lawrence, is it a risk to do that — and a lot of thought that goes into that… mixing it with the new?
ML: Yeah. And we actually went back and watched a lot of the old episodes again from the first and second seasons just to make sure there weren’t stones left unturned and we weren’t missing out on some great throughline. It was more just attitudes and emotions from the characters that we realized we could keep turning and go further with. “I went to college” was the biggest one. “We have to show that.”
JM: I can tell how much care was put into this movie — and all of these movies that have come out. This is such a fluid, freeing film and experience. Jill, do you really feel that the “SpongeBob” brand in 2025 is fluid and freeing — and endless possibilities?
JT: Well, if it surprises me… that’s a good thing. I’m surprised by what the writers are coming up with… their concepts. And I go, “Oh, wow, that’s so cool. I never would’ve thought of that.” So after 25 years, you think, “Oh I’ve seen it all. Whatever.” But these guys manage to come up with an angle and a story that we haven’t seen before. So that is fresh and exciting, and I’m grateful for that… and that there’s still concern and care for the characters — to keep them true to who they are but also find new storylines.
ML: And when people respond well to it and they keep watching, that’s the thing that makes us go, “Oh I guess we’re on the right track.”
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