''PEN15'' is an American

cringe comedy Cringe comedy is a subgenre of comedy that derives humor from social awkwardness, guilty pleasure, self-deprecation, idiosyncratic humor and personal distress. A type of a cringe comedy are pseudo-reality TV shows, sometimes with an air of a moc ...

television series, created by

Maya Erskine Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popula ...

Anna Konkle Anna Konkle (born April 7, 1987) is an American actress, writer and director. She is known for co-creating and starring as Anna Kone on Hulu's original TV comedy series ''PEN15'', alongside Maya Erskine. Her work on the series earned her two Prime ...

, and Sam Zvibleman, that premiered on February 8, 2019, on

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television seri ...

. The series stars Erskine and Konkle, who also serve as executive producers alongside Zvibleman,

Andy Samberg Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer and screenwriter. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island and was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2005 ...

Akiva Schaffer Akiva D. Schaffer (; born December 1, 1977) is an American film director, comedian, actor, and writer. He is a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island along with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. He began his career with The Lonely Island mak ...

Jorma Taccone Jorma Christopher Taccone (; born March 19, 1977) is an American comedian, director, actor, and writer. He is one-third of the sketch comedy troupe The Lonely Island, with childhood friends Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer. In 2010, Taccone co-wro ...

, Becky Sloviter, Marc Provissiero, Brooke Pobjoy, Debbie Liebling, and

Gabe Liedman Gabe Liedman is an American television writer, producer, and actor known for his work on ''PEN15'', ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', and ''Inside Amy Schumer''. He is the showrunner of Netflix animation series ''Q-Force'' and the first season of ''PEN15'' ...

. In May 2019, Hulu renewed the series for a second season of fourteen episodes, the first half of which premiered on September 18, 2020. In November 2021, it was reported that the series' second season will be its final season.

Premise

''PEN15'' is described as "middle school as it really happened". Erskine and Konkle – who were both 31 years old at the start of season 1 – "play versions of themselves as 13-year-old social outcasts in the year 2000, surrounded by actual 13-year-olds, where the best day of your life can turn into your worst with the stroke of a gel pen." The show takes its name from a school prank involving tricking someone in to writing the word "PEN15" on their hands, by asking if they want to join the "Pen 15 Club."

Cast and characters

Main

as Maya Ishii-Peters, a shy and sensitive Japanese-American seventh-grader who is best friends with Anna and is primarily raised by her mother. Maya can be immature and spontaneous at times, but she makes friends with her

class clown ''Class Clown'' is the fourth album released by American comedian George Carlin. It was recorded on May 27, 1972 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, and released in September. Background At the time Carlin was re ...

behavior. *

as Anna Kone, a seventh-grader who is best friends with Maya and struggling with her parents' divorce. Anna is the school's best singer and often copes with her home life with music. Anna is more mature than Maya, but also more likely to give in to

peer pressure Peer pressure is the direct or indirect influence on peers, i.e., members of social groups with similar interests, experiences, or social statuses. Members of a peer group are more likely to influence a person's beliefs, values, and behavior. A g ...

. *Mutsuko Erskine as Yuki Ishii-Peters, Maya's stern but caring mother. She is Erskine's mother in real life. *

Richard Karn Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

as Fred Peters, Maya's musician father who is often on tour with his Steely Dan

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. N ...

. *

Taylor Nichols Cecil Taylor Nichols (born March 3, 1959) is an American actor. He is known for roles in the Whit Stillman films ''Metropolitan'', '' Barcelona'', '' The Last Days of Disco'', and '' Damsels in Distress''. His characters in the first three of t ...

as Curtis Kone, Anna's father, whom she occasionally finds sleeping on the couch after a fight with his wife. *

Melora Walters Melora Walters (born October 21, 1959) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring roles as Wanda Henrickson in the television series ''Big Love'' and Kathy Kone in ''PEN15'', and has appeared in several Paul Thomas Anderson films. ...

as Kathy Kone, Anna's mother, whose

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

spirituality and high-strung personality clash with her husband. *Taj Cross as Sam Zablowski, a carpool friend of both leads who develops a crush on Maya. *

Dallas Liu Dallas Liu is an American actor. Originally a martial artist, Liu made his acting debut as young Jin Kazama in ''Tekken'' (2009). He has gone on to appear in the television series ''PEN15'' as Shuji Ishii-Peters and as Carter in ''Legendary Duda ...

as Shuji Ishii-Peters, Maya's older brother and sometimes defender, who tries to be cool and is often seen smoking

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternativel ...

outside school.

Recurring

*Dylan Gage as Gabe Leib *Sami Rappoport as Becca *

Anna Pniowsky Anna Pniowsky (* September 4, 2006 in Winnipeg) is a Canadian actress. Life Anna Pniowsky was born in Winnipeg in 2006 as the daughter of Jeff and Tracey Pniowsky. After a first leading role alongside her younger sister Abigail Pniowsky in t ...

as Heather Taylor *Ivan Mallon as Ian Walsh *Hannah Mae as Connie M *Tony Espinosa as Jafeer *Brady Allen as Brendan Tooler *Jill Basey as Ms. Bell *Lincoln Jolly as Alex *

Brandon Keener Brandon James Keener (born October 1, 1974) is an American actor. He was born and raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas and graduated from University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where he won an Irene Ryan scholarship for collegiate actors and performed ...

as Mr. O *Allius Barnes as Evan *

Marion Van Cuyck Marion Van Cuyck is an American actress known for portraying Terra Newback on Hulu's ''PEN15'' and on Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los G ...

as Terra Newback *Jessica Pressley as Jessica Abrams * David Bowe as Albert *

Diane Delano Diane Delano (born January 29, 1957) is an American character actress. She is known for her numerous roles in films and television, such as Sergeant Barbara Semanski on the CBS television series ''Northern Exposure'' and Roberta "Bobbi" Glass on ...

as Jan *Jonah Beres as Brandt *Nathaniel Matulessya as Skyler *

Katie Silverman Katie Silverman (born February 8, 2005) is an American actress best known for portraying the young Jacqueline Bouvier in Michael Wilson's production of ''Grey Gardens'' at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California.Chris Gardner'Grey Garde ...

as Stevie *Brekkan Spens as Ben Field *Bernadette Guckin as Mrs. Tooler *

Tim Russ Timothy Darrell Russ (born June 22, 1956) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and musician. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on '' Star Trek: Voyager'', Robert Johnson in '' Crossroads'' (1986), Casey in '' ...

as Mr. Wyzell *Isaac Edwards as Dustin *Jennifer Steadman as Suze *Carmina Garay as Jenna *Ashlee Grubbs as Maura *Sara Boustany as Miranda *Rebecca Faye Vincent as Marissa H *Chau Long as Steve *Albert Howell as Principal Ravage *

Brandon Soo Hoo Brandon Soo Hoo (born November 2, 1995) is an American actor and martial artist known for playing Tran in the 2008 film ''Tropic Thunder'' and for his series regular role on the Cartoon Network sketch comedy series '' Incredible Crew''. Soo Hoo ...

as Andy Kim *

Michael Angarano Michael Anthony Angarano (born December 3, 1987) is an American actor. He became known for his roles in the film ''Music of the Heart'' (1999) and the television series '' Cover Me'' (2000–2001), as well as for playing a recurring role as Elli ...

as Greg Rosso *Bill Kottkamp as Derrick

Guest

Jessy Hodges Jessy Hodges (born August 8, 1986) is an American actress. She played Sophie Parker in the web series '' Anyone But Me''. She is the daughter of '' The Evil Dead'' star Ellen Sandweiss. Biography Hodges lives in Los Angeles and is originally fro ...

as Ms. Bennett ("Solo") *

Laura Kightlinger Laura Kightlinger (born June 13, 1964) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She was a writer and consulting producer on ''Will & Grace'', while also occasionally appearing on the show as the character Nurse Sheila. She was also a write ...

as Deb Taylor ("Community Service") *

Annie Korzen Annie Korzen is an American actress, comedian and writer. Korzen is well known from the television show ''Seinfeld'', appearing in the recurring role of Doris Klompus, an obnoxious neighbor living in Jerry's parents' Florida condo complex. She ...

as Rose ("Community Service") *

Noah Mills Noah Mills (born April 26, 1983) is a Canadian model and actor. Vogue.com ranked him as one of the 'Top 10 Male Models of All Time' in September 2014. He has solidified his place as a fashion industry icon, thanks in part to his numerous Dolce & ...

as Flymiamibro22 ("AIM")

Episodes

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2 (2020–21)

Production

Development

On April 19, 2018, Hulu announced that it had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. Erskine and Konkle were also expected to write for the series and Zvibleman was set to direct multiple episodes. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of

The Lonely Island The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). The three ...

, Party Over Here, Odenkirk Provissiero, and

AwesomenessTV Awesomeness (abbreviation of AwesomenessTV) is an American-based film and television studio as well as a multi-channel based multilingual television network owned by Paramount Digital Studios, a division of Paramount Global. Established in Jun ...

. On November 19, 2018, it was announced that the series would premiere on February 8, 2019. On May 1, 2019, it was reported that Hulu renewed the series for a second season, of which the first seven episodes were released on September 18, 2020. The first episode from the second set of seven episodes premiered on August 27, 2021. Originally intended to run for three seasons, the filming of the second season was severely delayed by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, and by the conclusion both Erskine and Konkle had new acting roles, as well as parental responsibilities. On November 29, 2021, it was reported that the series' second season would be its final season.

Casting

Alongside the announcement of the series order, it was confirmed that Erskine and Konkle would star in the series as well.

Release

On November 19, 2018, a video was released announcing the premiere date of the series. On December 20, 2018, a teaser trailer for the series was released. On January 18, 2019, an official trailer and poster were released. The first season was released on

on February 8, 2019, and the first seven episodes of the second season were released on September 18, 2020. The eighth episode of the season was released on August 27, 2021, and the rest premiered on December 3, 2021.

Reception

Season 1

On the review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the series holds a "Certified Fresh" 94% approval rating with an average rating of 8.04 out of 10 based on 47 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Viewers willing to suspend their disbelief will find much to enjoy in ''Pen15'', wherein Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle reprise their adolescent selves – stirring up plenty of yucks and pathos amidst the farce."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 82 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Season 2

On Rotten Tomatoes, season two holds a 100% approval rating based on 52 reviews with an average rating of 8.82/10. The critical consensus reads, "An excellent showcase for Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, and their well-cast classmates, ''PEN15s sophomore season goes deeper into the nuances of middle school life without losing any of its cringey charm." On Metacritic, season 2 received a score of 93 out of 100 based on 11 critical reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:PEN15 2010s American school television series 2010s American teen sitcoms 2020s American school television series 2020s American teen sitcoms 2019 American television series debuts 2021 American television series endings Awesomeness (company) English-language television shows Hulu original programming Middle school television series Television series about teenagers Television series set in 2000 Asian-American television Television series by Paramount Television Works about puberty