‘The Burbs’ OG Actress Wendy Schaal On Returning For Seth MacFarlane Reboot, Says ‘American Dad!’ “Won’t Let Me” Retire After 20 Years

As Peacock goes home to The ‘Burbs with Celeste Hughey’s series reboot of the 1989 dark comedy, fans of the original will recognize a familiar face.

Wendy Schaal, who played housewife Bonnie Rumsfield in the Joe Dante-helmed OG, recently spoke with Deadline about returning onscreen for the first time in 20 years to play librarian Judy in the series, now available to stream, and how American Dad! just “won’t let me” retire.

The reason that I have been doing American Dad! for the last 20 years or 20 seasons is because of that movie,” she said of the Fox/TBS animated series, in which she voices Francine. “So, Seth MacFarlane was one of the guys that loved that movie and kind of designed the character Francine for me from that movie.”

Despite the movie’s apparent influence on MacFarlane in hiring her way back in 2006, Schaal admitted they “had not even spoken” about the reboot, on which he also serves as an executive producer.

“I actually read for another role that they ended up casting somebody else for, and then they offered me this role of Judy,” she recalled. “So, I’ve been trying to be in retirement, except American Dad! won’t let me. I have not been pursuing work, I’m really happy just doing American Dad! but when this came along, it was kind of like, well, this might be a fun way to be on a live set again and just go through the process. So, I accepted this, and it was just the most perfect experience for me.”

In Peacock’s The ‘Burbsnew parents Samira (Keke Palmer) and Rob (Jack Whitehall) move into his childhood home in “the safest town in America,” where Samira quickly becomes intrigued with the house across the street, which is supposedly haunted.

With the help of her new neighbors (Julia Duffy, Paula Pell and Mark Proksch), she investigates the mystery behind the home and its new tenant (Justin Kirk). Meanwhile, Rob appears to know more about the mysterious residence than he lets on. Appearing as librarian Judy, Schaal’s character also might have some insight.

After nearly 40 years, Schaal also reminisced about filming the original movie with the “constantly hilarious” Carrie Fisher, who “never let an opportunity go by where she wasn’t making a wig joke,” as well as Tom Hanks, who “honestly intimidated me,” and director Dante’s on-set antics.

Read on about how The ‘Burbs (1989) star Wendy Schaal landed her long-running voice role on American Dad!which led to a full-circle moment with her cameo on Peacock’s The ‘Burbs series reboot, now available to stream.

DEADLINE: I loved the original The ‘Burbs. My dad and I used to watch it all the time when I was a kid.

WENDY SCALE: Yeah, it has some real quotable lines to it. Honestly, I heard throughout the years it became kind of cult movie, and the reason that I have been doing American Dad! for the last 20 years or 20 seasons is because of that movie. So, Seth MacFarlane was one of the guys that loved that movie and kind of designed the character Francine for me from that movie.

DEADLINE: Oh, that’s so cool. What’s your biggest memory that sticks out from making that movie? Whether it’s a set piece or some of the grosser parts, like the bodies—

DISH: Oh, that wasn’t the grosser part for me. The grosser part for me was Joe Dante setting up the shot where I’m bending over a flower bed, and I was like, “Joe, I don’t see the camera. Where is it?” And he points behind me as I’m bending over this thing, and I was like, “Oh, come on.” So yeah, me and the wardrobe person went running behind one of the false house sets, and they had a full length mirror set up in there, and I’m bending over going, “Am I in? Is everything in?” Because I was wearing these short shorts. “Are we cool?” I bet you weren’t expecting that.

DEADLINE: No, I was not. What was it like working opposite Bruce Dern and with Carrie Fisher and this awesome ensemble?

DISH: Well, Bruce Dern surprised me. When we first met, one of the first questions he asked me was, “What high school did I go to?” And at that point, I don’t think anybody had asked me what high school I went to since high school. And the reason he did was, he was such a sports nut that he followed the teams all the way back to high school. So, I was like, “Huh?” So, that was my first impression of Bruce. And then Carrie Fisher is just constantly hilarious. So, I don’t think there was a moment on the set that she just wasn’t the funniest person to be in contact with, whatever it was. So, every once in a while, there’s productions that—I don’t know what makes them do that—but they make you wear a wig that looks exactly like your hair. It’s like, if you’re gonna make a wig that’s exactly like my hair, why don’t we just use my hair, right? But they made her do this in The ‘Burbsand so she never let an opportunity go by where she wasn’t making a wig joke. It was just one of those ongoing things. And then Tom honestly intimidated me, in the movie. I don’t know if it was his intention, but he kept telling me that he didn’t understand my character. He didn’t understand the character of Bonnie Rumsfeld. And I never knew. Because he was already a movie star, I think I didn’t sort of hold my own, because I was thinking, “Oh God, is it that he doesn’t understand the way I’m playing it? Or what doesn’t he understand?” So, I always felt a little bit just intimidated by him during the movie too.

DEADLINE: Interesting. Who are you still in touch with of the cast, or who is the last one that you’ve talked to?

DISH: Nobody from the cast, but I’m still in touch with Joe Dante. Oh, I shouldn’t say nobody from the cast, I’m a little bit in touch with Bob Picardo. He played the garbage men. We kind of go way back. So, he and I stay in touch every once in a while. And then, Joe sends me little cute animal emails.

DEADLINE: You’ve been working on American Dad! for more than 20 years now. Did Seth tell you immediately when he decided he wanted to do this ‘Burbs reboot? When did you come on to the project?

DISH: No, as a matter of fact, Seth and I had not even spoken about The ‘Burbs. I actually read for another role that they ended up casting somebody else for, and then they offered me this role of Judy. So, I’ve been trying to be in retirement, except American Dad! won’t let me. I have not been pursuing work, I’m really happy just doing American Dad! but when this came along, it was kind of like, well, this might be a fun way to be on a live set again and just go through the process. So, I accepted this, and it was just the most perfect experience for me. They were so nice and so generous. And by that I mean, before we shot the first scene on the set, I think it was Glenn Garner Celeste Hughey who introduced me to the crew and everybody that was present, as someone who had been in the original movie, and everybody applauded. It was just sweet, and just the whole experience was absolutely perfect. So, it was just kind of what I needed personally to visit and to have an on-camera experience. It was kind of a perfect come around.

DEADLINE: That’s awesome. What can you tell me about this character, Judy? It seems like she knows a lot about the mystery that Samira is investigating.

DISH: Yeah, so, the regulars in this town have all lived with the rumors, and if you’ve ever had an experience where there’s a lot of rumors around something that you live with, you shrug it off, but some people are trying to get some kind of big thrill out of asking questions and all that. And at the same time, you kind of don’t know if there really is more to it than just rumors. So, Judy is one of these characters that wasn’t expecting to be questioned about this and doesn’t know how to handle it, so she kind of retreats quickly and talks to her higher up back in the office to to figure out how to handle it. But Judy’s also a kind of character where she doesn’t know how to handle anything, so she’s sort of really uptight and not fully ready to be present in the moment.

DEADLINE: We touched on it earlier, but what’s it been like voicing Francine on American Dad! for 20 years now?

DISH: Oh my gosh, I have to say that first of all, it doesn’t feel like 20 years in any respect of my life. Not only just in American Dad! but time is like a snowball running down a hill. It gets faster and faster and faster. But it has been a consistent pleasure. It’s been fun, It’s been just the the right level of involvement for me in show business. I just love our cast. I love our executive producer, who directs us in the booth, and everybody that’s involved. It’s just changed my life. It really has.

DEADLINE: I’m glad to hear that. And did you say that Seth was inspired to hire you after seeing The ‘Burbs?

DISH: That was my understanding. So, when I got a call to go audition for an animation character, I was not even a voice-over artist. That was a part of my career I never explored, and I had no clue how to go about it. So, I got a picture of the character, and of course, sides, the lines that I had to do, and sat at home and came up with a voice. And when I went to the audition, I didn’t know who Seth really was. I mean, I had heard of Family Guybut I was watching things like British dramas and stuff, so I wasn’t really watching animation. And I did the first audition, the first reading of it, and, he said, “OK, that was great, but, you can bring it down like 75%.” So, I must have been thinking Daffy Duck or something, and it was way over the top. So, he helped me out, and I didn’t know until later that he drew the character and designed it for me. And thank goodness I didn’t know that, because I think it really would have just made me more nervous during the audition process rather than just going at it fresh. But it all worked out.

DEADLINE: I know you’ve done a lot of other really awesome shows and movies, and I’m curious if there’s any other previous role or project that you might like to revisit one day, anything that could tempt you into performing on screen again?

DISH: Oh gosh. I suppose it more has to do with my relationships with people, more than projects. So, if Joe Dante ever wanted me to do anything on camera, I think I would be tempted to do that. if Mike Barker, who was one of the creators of American Dad!executive producer, if he did a project and asked me to join him, I’d be tempted. I mentioned Bob Picardo and Seth, if any of these people really wanted me to join them, I think that’s my answer. It’s more about the people than the actual projects.