One of the most beloved ’90s Nicktoons, Hey Arnold, is coming back with a two-part animated movie called Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie. The characters got a slightly modern revamp, and the producers promised that they’d tie off some loose ends that were hanging throughout the whole series. This means we’ll probably find out exactly what happened to Arnold’s parents!
Because we’re impatient and can’t wait for anything to actually come out, Buzzfeed sat down with Craig Bartlett, the show’s executive producer, to ask some extremely pressing questions about the series. We’ve been waiting for these answers for two decades! Here’s what they discovered.
1. Arnold’s full name is Arnold Phillip Shortman.
He was given his middle name after his grandpa Phil. Bartlett says they plan to do a joke where Arnold reveals his last name in The Jungle Movie, even if its been speculated for a long time.
2. Mr. Simmons is gay.
When they replaced Miss Slovak because she was too much of a caricature, they decided to make her replacement gay. “What if we put, instead, a great teacher who really cares about the students and is just full of passion? And then we thought, ‘Well, let’s make him gay, why not? It’ll be fun,'” said Bartlett.
3. Eugene is gay, but hasn’t figured it out yet.
According to Bartlett, Eugene is gay but hasn’t quite discovered his sexuality. He’s not technically aware of his sexuality now, but he will be.
4. Helga’s mom is an alcoholic.
If you couldn’t guess by how she’s always chugging smoothies and slurring her speech. The producers wanted to give Helga a difficult home life which makes us sympathetic to the fact that she’s kind of a bully. Poor Helga.
5. Pigeon Man didn’t kill himself.
Remember that scene where Pigeon Man jumps off the roof and flies away? We all thought it was a metaphor for suicide, but it wasn’t. It was meant to be taken totally literally. Pigeon Man literally hooks himself up to all those pigeons and flies away. Plus, he may make an appearance in The Jungle Movie. “I always imagined that he went to Paris, because that would be a good place to take care of pigeons,” said Bartlett.
6. Stoop Kid traveled the world to see all the great stoops.
We thought Stoop Kid was doomed to sit on his stoop forever because of his terrible anxiety problem. It turns out, that once Stoop Kid discovers he can leave, he does leave when he’s ready. Bartlett admitted that Stoop Kid went around the world sitting on amazing stoops. “Remember, Arnold showed him a bunch of stoops?” Bartlett said. “He went to the Great Pyramids.”
Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie comes out Thanksgiving weekend of 2017.
