Patton Oswalt Joins The ‘Veronica Mars’ Revival, And The Series Announces A Regular Player’s Return

Amid continuing reboot and revival madness on TV, Hulu recently decided that the time was right to revive Veronica Mars for the series’ cult following as well. Kristen Bell fervently climbed onboard to reprise her role as the titular (now-former) teen detective, and some majoj new casting developments are afoot. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Max Greenfield (now also of New Girl) will return as his Leo D’Amato character (he’ll also join several other returning players who are also reprising their original roles), but in even more intriguing news, Patton Oswalt will also join the series.

Oswalt’s stepping in as a character new to the Veronica Mars world, and the role sounds like it’s right in his true-crime-following wheelhouse. Here we go:

Oswalt will play Penn Epner, who’s on the wrong side of 40 to be as proud of his title as the “best pizza delivery guy in Neptune” as he is. But he won’t shut up about it — or anything else. A true crime devotee and frequent poster on unsolved-murder websites, Penn is affable, a little hapless, and milking his 15 minutes for all they’re worth.

Oswalt, of course, decided to have some fun with the announcement. “We got your letters America,” he tweeted. “[A]nd yes, I will finally play the ghost of Lou Costello you’ve been DEMANDING be added to the Veronica Mars cast!”

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) November 8, 2018

This guy. The addition of Oswalt should bring flavor to the cast’s dynamic, and returning players will include not only Bell and Greenfield but Enrico Colantoni (Keith Mars), Percy Daggs III (Wallace Fennel), and Jason Dohring (Logan Echolls), among others. No release date has been set as of yet for this this revival’s launch, but Hulu will begin streaming all old Veronica Mars episodes and the crowdfunded movie in summer 2019. As Bell previously stated, she feels that the show’s return couldn’t happen at a better moment, albeit in a TV landscape that’s already full of revivals.