Taking place years before the classic Nickelodeon series that spawned it, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years is a cute prequel series to SpongeBob SquarePants that offers fans a look into the younger versions of SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, and the rest of Bikini Bottom. All the original show's voices reprise their roles, which many of them have discovered to be a unique acting experience -- and a chance to find unexpected layers to characters they've been honing for over two decades.
Rodger Bumpass and Carolyn Lawrence -- the voices of Squidward Tentacles and Sandy Cheeks, respectively -- sat down with CBR to discuss what it's like to play their characters in such unique forms in Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years ahead of a new batch of episodes arriving Sept. 30 on the Paramount+ streaming service. The pair dive into which episode still lingers in their minds as the franchise's most surreal moment and the exciting challenge that comes with tackling their classic characters from a younger perspective in Kamp Koral.
CBR: You've both been a part of this franchise for over 20 years and seen it explode into what it is today. What has that been like, watching SpongeBob SquarePants grow into a genuine institution?
Carolyn Lawrence: I was gonna say, it's not about necessarily the inside of the process, but us as a cast -- it's really interesting to work with the same people for so long. I mean, we're going on 23 years, right? We've [become] a family. We've watched each other grow up. We've watched each other have kids. We've watched each other struggle with whatever. We watch each other have successes. It's so mind-blowing that we've been together this long and that we all still actually like each other is cool. It's a very strange thing to have that kind of consistency in our industry.
Rodger Bumpass: Absolutely. No one thought that this was going to be what it turned out to be, that it would be as iconic as it is. The comment that I get when we attend Comic Cons, it's consistently "Thank you for our childhood." We get that all the time. People grew up with us. We chaperoned an entire generation -- in fact, two generations now. To be a part of that is like with the old Looney Tunes. It's what I would have said to Mel Blanc if I could have ever met him. To be a part of that sort of thing for 23 years, that's older than my socks now. To be a part of that is our best destiny.
Lawrence: Yeah, it's a very surreal experience. I mean, I think it will be until the day I leave the planet. It's something I can't truly completely wrap my brain around.
Bumpass: I'll tell you what was surreal was when we did our live-action show ["SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout"], where we actually were in character, on set, doing the parts. We have been around each other for 23 years now in the studio. We're quite used to our friends doing the parts, but when you're in costume, and I'm at the cash register, and Patrick is standing in front of me -- it was like being in the Twilight Zone.
Lawrence: That's true, and because it was so much the Twilight Zone, it was an amazing experience. Now I want to go back and do it again. I felt like I was a little out of my body because I was -- for lack of a better term -- freaked out, like, "Oh my god, here we are."
Bumpass: Where's that spin-off?
Kamp Koral presents an interesting challenge to you and the rest of the cast as you have to approach these characters you've spent years getting down and find entirely new layers to them. What has that process been like?
Bumpass: I would think that Carolyn had the easiest job because she's so easily... Her voice is so easily changed to a younger version of Sandy, and she did it seamlessly. Some of this had to be enhanced a little bit to make it easy to youth-up a little bit. The challenge for me, which is something I always wanted to do in the show... Because [Squidward's] almost a teenager, I wanted to have his voice crack a few times, you know? But it's a very interesting acting exercise for us.
Lawrence: It is, and it was really fun after playing Sandy so long. The writers would write an episode, and I'd be like, "Oh! That's when she did that. Oh, that's when she learned XYZ." So that was the discoveries for me that brings a freshness to the whole experience. It was really fun. It is really fun.
Bumpass: The act of origins in Kamp Koral is a very interesting concept. We found something the other day -- and I don't know whether we used it or not -- but Squidward as an adult, whenever he's humming around the house, he has this little thing that [SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg] gave to me years ago, this little tune he always hums. There's a character Reginald, the snooty butter for the rich camp, and he was humming that. I had him hum that very same thing. Because Squidward admired the sophistication of Reginald, I was trying to get this the origin of Squidward always doing that particular humming thing.
Lawrence: It's so fun for our brains to go back and try to figure all that out and add it in. Especially after so long, it's a really neat experience. ,
Bumpass: It's great acting experience. I mean, it exercises, [and] it's challenging. You think [it] would be easy, but it's sometimes I have to be reminded to keep my voice up a little because I tend to get back into just classic Squidward.
Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years returns with new episodes on Paramount+ on Sept. 30.