Can't Stop The Trolls: Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick Return In New Holiday Special Coming To NBC

If you thought the Minions were bad enough, allow me to reintroduce you to the unstoppable might of the "Trolls" franchise. At least the Minions were forever immortalized as ancient American gods in that one incredible scene in "Mortal Engines" a couple of years back. What can "Trolls" consider to be its claim to fame? Nothing major, just changing the entire landscape of moviegoing by becoming the first major film to skip theaters entirely during the pandemic and release solely on video-on-demand, setting off an entire chain of events that continued to reverberate months and months later. Well, that and causing misery for parents everywhere through the use of incessantly catchy tunes that no child can resist replaying over and over and over again.

Let's continue to send those heroes our collective thoughts and prayers, because the "Trolls" train ain't stopping anytime soon. A new holiday special starring none other than -- guess who -- the Trolls will be coming to NBC later this year. Resistance is futile.

Happy Troll-Idays

I am, as they say, just the messenger here. After the generally middling "Well, could've been worse I guess?" reception to "Trolls World Tour" last year, the franchise is coming right back with a new holiday special voiced by many of the returning stars. Deadline brings the news that Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Kenan Thompson, and Rachel Bloom will all be reprising their roles in "Trolls Holiday In Harmony." The main quartet will also be (re)joined by fellow "Trolls" co-stars Ron Funches, Kunal Nayyar, Anderson .Paak, Anthony Ramos, Ester Dean, Walt Dohrn, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Karan Soni for the half-hour long animated musical special.

The plot of "Trolls Holiday in Harmony" is described as:

...as the holidays near, Queen Poppy (Kendrick) plans the first annual Trolls Kingdom Secret Holiday Gift Swap. Things take an unexpected turn, however, when she and Branch (Timberlake) draw each other's name. Meanwhile, Tiny Diamond (Thompson) comes down with a bad case of writers' block trying to think of a special holiday rap for his dad.

According to Deadline, the special will be comprised of four new songs. "Trolls Holiday in Harmony" will be written and directed by Sean Charmatz (a storyboard artist on "World Tour") and Tim Heitz (head of story on "World Tour"). If all this sounds vaguely familiar, that's because there was another "Trolls" holiday special in 2017, straightforwardly titled as "Trolls Holiday" and starring the voice cast of Kendrick, Timberlake, and Zooey Deschanel. Like I said, the "Trolls" train stops for nobody.

"Trolls Holiday In Harmony" will air on NBC at 9pm (EST) on November 26, 2021 and will then be made available for purchase on digital and DVD on November 30, 2021.

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