One of the most unexpectedly charming series to hit The CW in 2015 was the iZombie. The show follows the exploits of zombie medical examiner Liv Moore who helps solve crimes thanks to flashes back to the lives of murder victims whose brains she eats, and it’s really thanks to the handling by head honcho Rob Thomas that the premise actually works on screen. Luckily for Marshmallows – that is, fans of Thomas’ past series Veronica Mars - the showrunner will be bringing the talents of the woman behind Veronica back to The CW. Kristen Bell is set to join iZombie for a voiceover role in 2016.
Bell will be making her iZombie debut in the eleventh episode of the second season, entitled “Fifty Shades of Grey Matter” and set to air on January 26. She’ll be lending her voice to a young librarian who was poisoned to death. EW reports Liv will discover that the librarian also happened to secretly be an erotic fiction writer. Although details of Bell’s involvement are still under wraps, Liv’s usual shenanigans as she takes on the personality traits of the brains that she eats means that the librarian’s mind should take her in some entertaining directions.
Kristen Bell is no stranger to voiceover work. She narrated Gossip Girl for all six seasons of its run, and she voiced none other than Princess Anna in Disney’s smash hit Frozen in 2013. Add in her experience in narrating detective stories thanks to her years on Veronica Mars and there's no doubt that Bell will be a fantastic addition to iZombie.
Although only running for three seasons, Veronica Mars was a critically acclaimed show that managed to grow in popularity in the years following its cancellation in 2007. Thanks largely to the efforts of Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell, Mars made a comeback for a fan-funded feature film in 2014. The two teaming up once more for iZombie should make “Fifty Shades of Grey Matter” an especially enjoyable episode.
It is something of a shame that Bell won’t be reprising the role of Veronica herself as a cameo for iZombie. Aside from the pesky zombie-ism, Liv Moore has an awful lot in common with Veronica, ranging from her quippy detective work to her post-trauma haircut. Even the two characters’ narrations of their adventures are similar. The two ladies going head to head could have been great.
Of course, considering there has already been an awful lot of cast crossover from Veronica Mars on iZombie, Veronica would have had to stay out of Liv’s past case files lest she be confused about her high school friends murdering people in Seattle.
Although there’s still several weeks of wait until “Fifty Shades of Grey Matter” hits the airwaves, iZombie will return from hiatus on Tuesday, January 12 at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.
