Key Takeaways

• Ice Spice will voice a character and contribute an original song to ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.’
• The casting was announced at the Annecy Animation Festival alongside names like Regina Hall and George Lopez.
• This marks Ice Spice’s first animated film role, following her 2022 track “Bikini Bottom” and upcoming debut in Spike Lee’s ‘Highest 2 Lowest.’

Ice Spice is officially heading to Bikini Bottom. On Tuesday (June 10), the Brooklyn rapper was revealed to have been cast in the forthcoming The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.

Ramsey Naito, president of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, broke the big news at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Deadline reported that the Y2K! artist will also deliver an original song for the soundtrack. Although the publication didn’t specify exactly which character she'll voice, other confirmed cast members include George Lopez, Regina Hall and Sherry Cola.

Luckily, fans won’t have long to speculate. The film is set to premiere on Dec. 19 and follows SpongeBob and friends diving deep underwater to take on the ghost of the Flying Dutchman.

Anyone who’s been following Ice Spice knows she practically manifested this moment. Back in 2022, she dropped a track called “Bikini Bottom” — named after SpongeBob’s hometown — which later ended up on her debut EP, Like..? “I feel like everyone born in the 2000s references SpongeBob a lot,” she told NME. “He’s an icon. My favorite episode is ‘Rock Bottom.’”

The “Deli” hitmaker is also set to make her big-screen debut in Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, which is expected to premiere in theaters in August. The film notably stars ASAP Rocky and Denzel Washington, so it’s definitely not a low-key introduction for the four-time Grammy Award nominee.

Music-wise, Ice Spice joined KATSEYE for their “Gnarly” remix earlier in the month. Prior to that, Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR sampled her voice on “GLORIOUS” from February’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. Interestingly enough, she hasn’t had a solo release since Y2K! : I’m Just A Girl (Deluxe) dropped in 2024.

The rap superstar did, however, tease a track tentatively titled “Thick Again” during Paris Fashion Week. “She got thin, but she wanna get thick again / Shawty got back on her oats / He stay on my body, it's hard to get rid of him,” she rapped over the RIOTUSA-produced beat.