The Canadian Teletoon Clone High transformed a bizarre question into an iconic reality. Imported by MTV, the cartoon series threw historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Cleopatra, and Gandhi into high school—as teenage clones of themselves. The show itself poked fun at the cultural aspects of high school years and themes of coming-of-age through an unusual roundup of iconic figures in global history. The original animated series ran in the early 2000s and is angling for a return after two decades of being off of the air.
In 2021, HBO Max ordered Clone High for a two-season return on the streaming platform. After it was confirmed that the adult animation would make its return to small screens, creators Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Bill Lawrence announced that they were still attached to the title. While there’s little known about the return of Clone High yet, there are a handful of reasons to look forward to the reboot.
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5 The Original Creative Team Will Return
Image via Deadline
It has been confirmed that Clone High creators Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Bill Lawrence are at the helm of upcoming Clone High reboot. The trio was responsible for the niche success of the original series as it was aired through the infantile years of the 2000s and wrote the screenplay behind the first season. It’s especially important that Clone High welcomes back its original creative team before deciding how to hash out any additional material because of how familiar they are with their own work. Being able to continue that creative arc, even if the delay is longer than anticipated, allows Clone High to experience a smooth transition from season to season. Lord and Miller previously lent their voices to the series, meaning that their involvement with the reboot has multiple importances.
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4 It’s Allegedly Picking Up Where Clone High Originally Ended
Touchstone Television
The official confirmation on how the Clone High reboot chooses to identify hasn’t been set in stone, but a Tweeted image of a script for the new Clone High title heavily alleges that the unreleased additional material for the series will be a second season. Miller’s Tweet in the summer of 2021 featured a clear image of the Clone High script, and at near the top of the cover page, is “Episode 201.” The pilot episode for the alleged season two is titled “Let’s Try This Again,” which opens the doors to a number of narrative possibilities that stem from the original series.
3 Core Characters Will Return
It is expected that with the return of Clone High comes the return of characters from its first season. The published synopsis on IMDb for the Clone High reboot almost promises that the main cast of historical icons and leaders will make their return, claiming that “historical figures who have been cloned and placed back in high school, including Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, John F. Kennedy and more, as they face the trials of normal teenage life.”
Knowing that Lord and Miller cast themselves as voice actors in the original first season reassures the idea that the pair will once again write themselves into upcoming seasons. It was Miller who was the voice actor who contributed to Clone High’s popular caricature of John F. Kennedy, where his lopsided speech pattern and drawn-out accent boosted the show’s fame. Information around potential returning voice talent and new cast joining the series have been slim, leaving any casting prediction to the mercy of internet speculations. However, there remain to be high hopes that the original voice cast make their return to Clone High for the HBO Max reboot.
2 New Historical Figures Could Appear
MTV
Clone High successfully poked fun at some of the most recognizable trailblazers in global history just by including them in episodes. The satirical series knew how to tease these international figures without having to reach for a punchline, and remained keenly self-aware of how far it could push its running joke that the show established. Outside of the collective of main characters, the students at Clone High borrowed the likeness of other icons of past events such as Julius Ceasar, Juan Ponce de Leon, Paul Revere, and Marie Antionette.
The amount of time passed between the conclusion of Clone High’s first season and the drafting of the scripts for future seasons has given the screenwriters the opportunity to introduce new, even more, recently-established historical figures into series installments that are on the way to small screens. Clone High incorporates figures from every era of human history and from all worldly regions, sure to capture representation from each notably historical event. With the new seasons in development, it’s almost promised that new historical figures are bound to appear.
1 There Will be a Season 3 of Clone High
Image via Art of the Title
The news that was brought about by the Clone High revival came along with a specific detail: HBO Max ordered two seasons of the show, instead of labeling the purchase as a generic reboot. In comparison, HBO Max simply announced the Daria reboot without adding any additional detail, suggesting there are more plans for Clone High. The designation of the deal pertaining to two seasons inadvertently confirms that Clone High could be subject to a third season prior to its second season’s release. With no release date assigned to Clone High’s reboot or any titular project that may follow it, more time is given for MTV Studios and their Clone High crew to continue crafting the reboot. The third season is an inference drawn from what has been made known about the series return, though Lord and Miller’s process of drafting multiple works of a series at the same time could hold true for Clone High, too.
