Black Butler is back. It had been almost a decade since the last Black Butler anime series, and over 6 years since the last anime film, when Black Butler: Public School Arc started airing in April. The new season sees Ciel and Sebastian going undercover at the prestigious Weston College to investigate the disappearance of multiple students.
Many thought the series was gone for good, including two of the series’ English cast: Brina Palencia, the voice of Ciel Phantomhive, and J. Michael Tatum, the voice of Sebastian. Thankfully, the series returned, and both Palencia and Tatum were able to reprise their roles once more in the English dub of the series, which just wrapped up on Crunchyroll and is now available in its entirety.
Ahead of the series’ finale, and just before the announcement of the Emerald Witch Arc at Anime Expo 2024 , we had the opportunity to sit down with Birina and Michael to chat about their experiences reprising the two iconic roles.
GLHF: How has the experience been so far recording for Black Butler: Public School Arc?
Brina Palencia: Man, I mean, it’s such a privilege to get to return to these characters after so long. This is so rare in any actor’s career that you get the opportunity to come back. For me, Ciel is one of my favorite characters of all time, so getting to revisit it is such a privilege and such an honor.
J. Michael Tatum: Yeah, it’s such a gift, to live in that world and to play opposite Brina again, who’s one of my all-time favorite colleagues and friends, of course, but I’ve always loved any chance I have to play against her. It’s just wonderful.
It’s also great to see that something you love has so much longevity, that it’s still relevant, and can come back and still generate this much interest and praise. Old fans that have been with it from the beginning still love it, new fans are coming in and loving it. It’s nice to feel that, to see the family grow. I’m glad that we can still be a part of it after all these years, because you just never know.
What was your first reaction to hearing that there was going to be a new season of Black Butler after such a long time?
BP: I can’t remember, Michael, if you told me or if somebody else told me and I texted you, but I feel like we were on the phone texting.
MT: Yeah, we were. We were immediately texting each other. I can’t remember who instigated, but I’m not online very much so I got the news from several other friends who were like “Hey, did you see the news?” and I was like “No, that’s not real, that can’t be real, I’ve been duped before.” So I was like, nah, whatever. But then when it became clear it was real, I was like “Oh my god!”
It was super cool, because I guess I always felt that it would come back. I rarely feel that way about a role — once you’re done, you’re usually done. It doesn’t often get more seasons, it’s just like 99% of the things you do, so there was no reason necessarily to think this would be any different. But all those years ago, when we wrapped on [2017 film] Book of the Atlantic, I just had a feeling there would be more at some point down the road.
I didn’t know if we would be involved in it, maybe it would happen 40 years later, but I was like “There will be more.” This is just that kind of show, I feel like it’s gonna come around again and again and again. And I was right.
But when we got the news I was still like “No!” It was great. We were super excited because we were like “Oh yes, we get to do that thing again, we get to reprise–” or at the time hopefully reprise, we weren’t sure at the time that they were going to ask us. You never know, and you never like to assume as an actor.
BP: Yeah, we didn’t know. We had to wait a year to find out whether or not we were actually going to get to reprise.
Ciel is a cool, calm, and collected character, but he’s still got a childishness to him that comes out at times. How did you go about balancing those two aspects of the character?
BP: That’s definitely what makes the character so fun and why he is one of my favorites because he is so layered in that way. He's not necessarily predictable, and I think in Public School Arc in particular, it's the most flustered that I remember ever seeing him.
I can't think of any other time that he has been so discombobulated and just like “What is happening?!” And you know, just under prepared, not ready for how intense school life can be, and how hard it is to maintain relationships and just navigate all of the cliques and just all of it. School sucks. It's so hard, and I don't think Ciel was prepared for that.
Sebastian is similarly cool and calm, but he has a twisted, often amused side to him. Is that kind of character fun to record?
MT: How could it not be fun? Are you kidding? It’s such a delight. One of the driving forces of Sebastian is that he just loves to watch and see what these silly little mortals will get up to, and it’s kind of fun.
One of the things I really love about the Public School Arc specifically is that because Sebastian is kind of going deep cover as Ciel’s superior in the school itself that they can have this back and forth. There’s a lot of opportunities for sarcasm and for Sebastian to be kind of patronizing, and it’s hilarious.
It kind of deepens their relationship because there are elements of it that become almost a domestic comedy where it’s like “We’re playing this role together, but good luck! It’s somehow just a lot easier for me than it is for you, but you’re doing great, kid.”
I love the implication that while Ciel is struggling in this world that is so unfamiliar to him, while he’s so out of his depth, Sebastian, being a demon, is perfectly at home in school.
The Public School Arc has a lot more moving pieces, and a lot of twists and turns — were you surprised at some of the directions the season has taken?
BP: Well, I read the manga ahead of time to check, because I feel that way about Black Butler all the time, so I like to know as much as I can going into it. In the past, when we did this, it was before we did the simuldubs, so everything was already animated and released in Japanese, so I was able to watch the full series before I would record, so I knew where it was going.
But with the Public School Arc I didn’t have that luxury, to be able to watch it. So instead, I read the manga, and it definitely helped because there’s so many layers to Ciel that I have to keep track of both technically and emotionally. It helps me a lot to know what his emotional arc is for the story.
MT: Well, Ciel is such a strategist, and so proactive that he needs all those pieces, all that information, where Sebastian can just sit back and be like “No, let’s see what you do now.”
For me, I think it’s fun to just sit back. I rely so much on my performance for Brina, because Sebastian is so reactive, he’s so much a reflection of what’s going on in Ciel’s head that everything he does is in response to what Ciel is experiencing or what Ciel tells him to do. So I really don’t have to do any homework, it’s great. I just show up and watch Brina or listen to Ciel, but yeah, it’s super fun.
And the thing is, I’m constantly surprised by what’s going on in the Black Butler world, because it’s such a unique show and it’s so tonally all over the place. Yet it succeeds in pulling it off and making it seamless, and that’s so rare for a show to do. But it also tells you that anything can happen — we can be in a moment of comedy and suddenly it goes extremely dark. There can be a supernatural element that suddenly pops out of a perfectly prim domestic scene, and it makes sense.
So I’ve become used to surprises. I’m so used to being surprised that I’m not surprised anymore.
What have been your favorite moments of the Public School Arc so far?
BP: I think, for me, I really loved what we just got to do with Maurice Cole and Ciel trying to navigate that because that’s when he gets the most frustrated I’ve ever seen him, it’s so delightful. It’s like seeing him lose his footing entirely, and then figure out how to get back to it. It was a very cool growth moment for him.
MT: I think it’s a toss up between the first time [Sebastian] says the iconic “Yes, my lord” line, because the buildup is so hilarious. It’s just this long shot with all these different angles and it’s just beautifully perfect and outrageous and hilarious, I love it. When it was done I was like “now we’re cooking.”
But I also love it when he just randomly starts conducting an orchestra on the fields.
BP: Oh my god, yes!
MT: Playing the Radestzky March and it’s just like “okay, yeah.” It was just hilarious. I just cracked up at that scene and just the whimsy of it. But also what a great strategy it was on Sebastian’s part, like malicious compliance. It’s not against the rules. It was just hilarious, I live for that kind of stuff.
The Public School Arc has a much bigger cast than previous seasons, who have you gotten to work with that have really blown you away?
BP: I think all of the P4 have been so fun to listen to. I also, with the cricket match portion of it, have really loved working with Brandon McInnis, you might know him, Michael.
MT: Oh, yeah, I’m familiar with his work [laughs].
BP: But his [Lawrence] Bluewer and getting to know that character throughout that portion of it has been really fun. But at the same time it makes me really sad, because I know that all of the connections that we see [Ciel] making emotionally, he’s not actually allowing himself to feel, at least the way that I interpret it.
It’s the parts of Ciel that I’m like “oh, if only he could just lose himself in that, just please I want this for you,” but then knowing in reality it’s all just a manipulation on his part, it makes me sad.
MT: I’m going to say Brandon McInnis too, because he’s my husband, so any chance we have to be on the same show is always nice. We can rideshare to work together.
It’s also been great working with Caitlin Glass at the helm as the voice director because she is so great. She’s an absolute expert with all the different dialects and bringing them to life, and making sure that the actors stay very true to them. I’ve been proud of our accent work on that show from the beginning, but we have never sounded better, and Caitlin is so good and having a ball doing it. She’s such a gift to work with as a director, so I definitely gotta give a shout out to Caitlin’s work.
BP: And then real quick, also, Ciarán Strange as McMillan. So cute, so sweet and definitely their scenes together break my heart the most because I’m just like “Oh, McMillan is such a good little boy, he just wants to be friends.”
All four seasons of Black Butler are available to stream now on Crunchyroll .
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