Pen15
American 2019 comedy television series
Pen15 is an American cringe comedy television series, created by Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, and Sam Zvibleman, that premiered on February 8, 2019, on Hulu. The series stars Erskine and Konkle, who also serve as executive producers alongside Zvibleman, Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, Becky Sloviter, Marc Provissiero, Brooke Pobjoy, Debbie Liebling, and Gabe Liedman.
In May 2019, Hulu renewed the series for a second season of fifteen episodes, the first half of which premiered on September 18, 2020. In November 2021, it was reported that the series' second season would be its last.
Pen15 is described as "middle school as it really happened". Erskine and Konkle – who were both 31 years old at the start of season one – "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 into writing the word "PEN15" (which looks like the word "penis") on their hands by asking if they want to join the "Pen 15 Club".
Cast and characters
Main
Maya Erskine as Maya Ishii-Peters, a shy and sensitive seventh-grader who is best friends with Anna and is primarily raised by her Japanese mother. Maya can be immature and spontaneous at times, but she makes friends with her class clown behavior.
Anna Konkle as Anna Kone, a seventh-grader girl 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.
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