After receiving an Emmy nomination for the first half of its second season, Hulu‘s Pen15 will return with an animated special on August 27 to kick off part two of season two, according to Vanity Fair.
Episode 208, titled “Jacuzzi,” will pick up in the aftermath of the midseason finale, following Anna (Anna Konkle) and Maya (May Erskine) — two preteen girls played by adult actors — on a trip to Florida with their families with both animated and live-action elements. In classic Pen15 fashion, the vacation quickly breeds new insecurities for the inseparable duo, and an unforeseen plot twist makes their newfound issues near impossible to resolve.
The episode was originally scheduled to air as a stand-alone 40-minute special utilizing prosthetics and strategic camera tricks, though plans changed due to the COVID pandemic.
“We got really excited about prosthetics. Before COVID, we were on the track. We were getting fitted for prosthetics; we had all these amazing digital pictures made of what we were going to look like. It was killing me, I was so excited,” Konkle told the outlet. “We had the choice when COVID happened: Should we try to wait and do this when things open up, or should we get this out sooner and just do it animated? We needed to be passionate about it being animated to do it; it couldn’t just be like second fiddle to the ideal. So we started digging in creatively.”
Pen15, directed by Sam Zvibleman, was written and cocreated by stars Konkle and Erskine. Hulu has yet to disclose when the final six episodes of part two will be released.
Elsewhere, watch the new trailer for Dune, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and more.
