'Garfield' is TikTok-ready to love lasagna in Ozempic era – See his new look | Exclusive - USA Today
Garfield is back, and he's ready to Roomba.
The world's most famous orange cat is returning to his old-school 2D glory in the new Paramount+ animated series "Garfield" (premiering December), for which USA TODAY can exclusively reveal the first look.
After years of computer-generated Garfield adventures, including the 2007-2009 movie trilogy and 2024's 3D "The Garfield Movie" (voiced by Chris Pratt), the lasagna-loving, Monday-loathing Garfield is returning to OG style – the style made famous by Jim Davis' original 1978 comic strip and the beloved CBS animated series "Garfield and Friends" (1988-1994).
Even Garfield's notoriously oversized feet have been scaled back to better resemble his classic animated appearance.
"It's actually been 30 years since there's been a 2D Garfield," says Dave H. Johnson, who executive produces the Nickelodeon Animation Studios series with John Trabbic III. "Recent generations that grew up on Garfield don't know it existed as a comic or a 2D show. This feels new because it hasn't been seen in so long. This is Garfield at his most Garfield. We're coming home."
"We're aware that we're in the world of Ozempic and body shaming," Johnson adds. "Garfield is on his own track. That world is not important to him."
But this isn't simply the Garfield of yesteryear.
Moving from the suburbs to the city, Garfield continues to love all variations of gooey, cheese-covered lasagna. His famous green armchair has given way to a two-seater couch – and even a suspiciously stained futon scavenged from his apartment building.
The feline still adores his pink-furred girlfriend, Arlene (voiced by Michelle Ortiz), who's lost her signature red lips. Now a streetwise bodega cat, Arlene knows what's happening around town and isn't afraid to challenge her famously self-absorbed boyfriend.
Long-suffering human companion Jon Arbuckle (voiced by Joe Brogie), who carries an iPhone, has received his own fashion update, trading his blue button-down look for decidedly more casual, millennial attire.
Garfield's new city home with Jon and dog frenemy Odie opens the door to new characters, including Paulie, the mysterious bodega owner, and a sewer-dwelling alligator. The updated world has given Garfield, a frequent battler of vacuum cleaners, a new technological obsession: the Roomba cleaner.
Never one to expend unnecessary energy, Garfield manages to harness the tech to his own advantage for a ride.
"That's totally Garfield," says Trabbic. "How funny is it to see this fat cat ride this cleaner like the Green Goblin?"
"Garfield can be TikTok famous," Johnson adds.
The famous feline also has a new voice. Emmy-winning "New Girl" and "Fargo" star Lamorne Morris takes over a role previously voiced by such stars as Lorenzo Music, Bill Murray and, most recently, Pratt.
Trabbic says Morris was their only choice after playing Winston Bishop in "New Girl."
"He was our first pick, our only pick," Trabbic says. "He's got the swagger that Garfield has. The decision was just like, 'It's him.'"
The new series leans into Garfield's rich holiday history with a holiday episode inspired by Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," with one of the ghosts appearing in lasagna form. But there's no reforming this cat.
"Garfield is the ultimate dream fulfillment character," Trabbic says. "He does what he wants, says what he wants and eats what he wants."
The series creators insist there may never have been a better time for a character whose entire existence revolves around eating, sleeping and having other people do things for him.
"We have never lived in a more narcissistic time in our lives," Johnson says. "We're about ourselves, about wanting more and doing less, about sleeping and about other people doing things for us. Garfield is more pertinent now than ever before. We're not pulling any punches, because he is all of us."
