Issa Rae and Michael Cera Join Cast of Margot Robbie's Upcoming 'Barbie' Movie

Margot Robbie is Barbie and Ryan Gosling is Ken in the upcoming Greta Gerwig-directed film, which is expected to hit theaters next year

Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Margot Robbie
Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage

Did Barbie just get some new famous friends?

Issa Rae and Michael Cera are joining the cast of director Greta Gerwig's upcoming Barbie film, PEOPLE can exclusively reveal.

Barbie, which stars Margot Robbie as the ever-popular Mattel doll, will also feature Ryan Gosling as Barbie's dashing beau Ken, along with America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon and Will Ferrell. Production on the film is underway in the U.K.

Details around the film's plot and characters are being kept under wraps, though The Hollywood Reporter said Ferrell, 54, will play the CEO of a toy company.

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Robbie, 31, who is also producing the big screen comedy, previously told The Hollywood Reporter one of her goals is to subvert audience expectations with the film.

"The name itself, people immediately have an idea of, 'Oh, Margot is playing Barbie, I know what that is,' but our goal is to be like, 'Whatever you're thinking, we're going to give you something totally different — the thing you didn't know you wanted,' " she said back in December 2020.

Oscar nominee Gerwig, 38, is directing the film after making 2017's Lady Bird and 2019's Little Women. She and partner Noah Baumbach, who share 3-year-old son Harold, wrote the script together.

Barbie is expected to hit theaters next year.

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