Phineas and Ferb is coming back for new episodes this June, and we got to talk with Ashley Tisdale and Caroline Rhea all about making their comeback ten years later. Phineas and Ferb is one of the biggest franchises with Disney Television, and the animated series is coming back with new episodes all these years later. But the coolest aspect of it all is the fact that the animated series is coming back with not only the original creators behind it, but the voice cast behind the original series as well. So fans of the original show are in for quite a treat.
Phineas and Ferb’s original series featured Ashley Tisdale as the voice of Candace, the main duo’s older sister who tried to constantly bust them when they were up to shenanigans. Caroline Rhea voiced the family’s mother, Linda, who often missed Phineas and Ferb’s big projects at the very last second. With the two stars coming back for the new series, ComicBook got to talk with them all about coming back years later, how the process has changed and more. Read on for our full interview with the two Phineas and Ferb stars (which has been edited for length and clarity).
CAROLINE RHEA: I wanna know how old you were when you started watching Phineas and Ferb.
NICK VALDEZ, COMICBOOK: I was in my twenties, sorry.
RHEA: I think it’s fantastic. Lots of people were in their twenties.
But enough about me, I want to know from you two, how does it it feel actually getting back into the booth and bringing the show to life again? It’s been ten years.
RHEA: I was so happy to see my character. I was happy to see all of the characters, but when you’re in the booth and you actually see her…when you do ADR and you’re watching the story. It’s a very strange thing to play an animated character for so long because you identify as that character. Don’t you identify as Candace too?
ASHLEY TISDALE: Of course, yes. It’s been awesome. I think that it’s so interesting because, Dan and Swampy, when COVID happened, we were doing Candace Against the Universe. I remember all of us having to record the movie from our homes. My husband is a composer, so I have a studio, so it was very easy for me to do. But what was so great was that once the show started back up, they were like, “You could either record from home or come in.” I’m like, “I’m coming in. I’m coming in. I’m coming to see your faces.” I was like, “I am so excited.” I love being able to see Dan and Swampy and work with them, and it’s just part of why I love to do the show. It’s to see the reactions to the lines. I love it. Everyone’s like a family.
RHEA: Twenty years ago or whenever we started, there were a few episodes where Ashley and I used to do it together at the same time.
What’s the process of coming back like? Do you have to get into that certain headspace again?
TISDALE: I definitely did not have to take time. I think that character is just in me, and I just gotta tap into it. I’m like thinking right now. Any other character I have played, it would take me a moment. But for some reason, Candice is just right there when I need her.
RHEA: If I had to play Aunt Hilda [from Sabrina the Teenage Witch] again, it would take me a minute. You know what I mean? The reason why is this character is so fun. My daughter’s 16. She’s sort of the age [Candace] is, that’s how long we’ve known each other. I remember when Ava turned two, Swampy and Bear came to her birthday party, and they drew Phineas and Ferb for everybody. But the adults…not the kids, because the kids were two they didn’t know it, the adults were going crazy. It’s so fun to see a grown up reduced to the happiness of a kid. I think that’s what this show does. It’s fun to feel like you’re watching something that reminds you of a really innocent time when you were little, and you’re like, “Oh, I have to watch Phineas and Ferb.” And there are tons of 20 year olds, 40 year olds. Like, my friend who’s in his forties, he’s so excited the show was coming back.
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I’m aging myself, but I I can relate. I do wonder, did you notice any kind of change to your dynamics when you’re playing off of one another? Because you did mention that you recorded together before, did you get to do that this time around?
RHEA: No, we haven’t done that in, like, sixteen years.
TISDALE: I think in the very, very beginning of the show, we did it. Then Dan and Swampy realized our schedules were so different. Even back then, I was on tour with High School Musical while doing the animation in different cities…in random recording studios. I had so much going on that I wasn’t even able to be in LA to do the show. We all had a bunch of schedules at that time that they were like, “Okay, we’re probably not gonna get this with them.” So we haven’t been in the studio together for a really, really long time. I think that’s just been the norm for us. But we’ll see each other. Sometimes we’ll see each other as we’re leaving. It’s cool to see everybody, and, I’ll see Vincent sometimes. It feels just like our old seasons.
RHEA: I’ve known Ashley since…I always say I’ve known her before she was famous because it was when she was so adorable on that show, Suite Life with Zack and Cody. But when I came on and I played some character, it was before the show had aired. And then I was like, “You are gonna be so famous.” You don’t even…you can’t remember this, and you were like, “You think?” And I was like, “So famous.” I would make you sing that song, I think, from Les Mis. Because her voice is so beautiful. I was like, “Sing this.” It’s so fun to actually have this sort of animated dynamic where she’s my child. It’s fun to reflect upon for ten years.
As a final thing I do have to ask, if there is a chance to make more, would you be willing to make more?
RHEA: Oh, we’re gonna make more. There’s gonna be another hundred and four days of summer vacation.
TISDALE: There’s definitely gonna be plenty.
RHEA: I said it’s gonna be “There’s 3,985 of summer vacation, and all of us need to go to college.”
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