You’ve Seen Squirrel Girl Before… Marvel Announces NEW WARRIORS Cast

Marvel and Freeform have announced the principal cast of the upcoming New Warriors, featuring a group of heroes led by the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.

Milana Vayntrub will play Doreen Green a.k.a. Squirrel Girl. Known to most as Lily in the AT&T commercials, Vayntrub came to the U.S. as a refugee when her family fled what is now known as Uzbekistan. Her career includes several shorts from College Humor as well as a stint on This is Us. She’s also the co-founder of the humanitarian organization Can’t Do Nothing.

In addition to acting, Vayntrub is also a writer, director, and producer of various projects ranging from comedy to documentary, so she has a range that you just don’t see in the AT&T spots. In fact, she was only supposed to do one spot and be done, but her Lily character worked so well they kept bringing her back.

“The first spot was so successful for us that we thought, let’s do another one and then another one and then another one. It was so well-received that we kept bringing her back,” says Valerie Vargas, vp of advertising and marketing communications for AT&T, told AdWeek.

Doreen Green has the powers of a squirrel, with her greatest quality being optimism. Her best friend: a pet squirrel named Tippy Toe.

Joining Vayntrub in the cast are Derek Theler as Craig Hollis (Mister Immortal), Jeremy Tardy as Dwayne Taylor (Night Thrasher), Matthew Moy as Zack Smith (Microbe), Kate Comer as Deborah Fields (Debrii), and Calum Worthy as Robbie Baldwin (Speedball).

Worthy might be the only other face you easily recognize, being a Disney alumnus (Austin & Ally), although the entire cast has been in shows that you probably have seen. Moy has been a regular on 2 Broke Girls, Thelen has been on Baby Daddy (and played X-O Manowar in Ninjak vs the Valiant Universe), Jeremy Tardy appeared in Dear White People, while Comer has made guest appearances on several television shows.

“We’re so lucky to have assembled such a diverse and incredibly talented cast,” said executive producer Jeph Loeb. “We can’t wait for the fans to see what’s in store when we unleash these iconic characters into the world!”

“At Freeform, we are committed to finding distinct and entertaining characters that our audience can enjoy and relate to,” said Elizabeth Boykewich, senior vice president, Casting and Talent, Freeform. “We are excited to be working with Marvel Television to bring these fiercely average superheroes to life and watch them take on the world.”

The series is co-produced by Marvel Television and ABC Signature Studios. Kevin Biegel (Cougar Town, Enlisted) will serve as showrunner and executive producer, with Marvel’s Jeph Loeb (Marvel’s The Defenders, Marvel’s The Punisher) and Jim Chory (Marvel’s The Punisher, Marvel’s Inhumans) as executive producers.

The show will debut on Freeform in 2018 at a half-hour comedy.