Kristen Bell Previews a ‘More Grown-Up’ and ‘Darker’ ‘Veronica Mars’
Preview
As the theme song goes: “A long time ago, we used to be friends.”
It’s been nearly 15 years since we first got acquainted with Veronica Mars, the scrappy teen private eye played by The Good Place’s Kristen Bell who — armed with a telephoto lens and an endless supply of snarky comments — roots out assorted misdeeds in fictional Neptune, California.
The 2004–07 cult series, which inspired a 2014 feature film and two novels, is now picking up where it left off, with an adult Veronica and her investigator dad, Keith (Enrico Colantoni), following the trail of a series of spring break bombings.
Below, Bell opens up her case file.
What’s it like reprising your breakout role?
Kristen Bell: I have so many feelings about it! I owe my career [to] this show, basically. It gave me an idea of what I was good at. Prior to this, I had not tried comedy, and I ended up learning a ton about how to deliver quippy one-liners.
Season 4’s mystery will play out over eight episodes. Does this show lend itself to the limited series format?
Yes! Although I struggle to think of a show that doesn’t. When there’s a 22-episode season, there’s often huffing and puffing to get to the climax. We’ve actually fought to do fewer episodes on The Good Place; a shorter season allows for the best of the best to be on the air.
Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) and Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni) (Richard Foreman, Jr. SMPSP/Hulu)
Veronica Mars was originally a teen soap, albeit a whip-smart one. How has it evolved?
It’s more grown-up and a little darker. Veronica has become jaded, and she’s ripe for an evolution, which is a really cool place to start. And it will be more of a detective show, but none of the personal [storylines] are lost — they’re just taking place within the hierarchy of the adult world now.
So yes, the soap has been taken out of the show, but it’s not clean — far from it!
Veronica Mars, Season 4, Streaming Now, Hulu
