BoJack F. Horseman (born January 2, 1964) is a fictional character and the titular protagonist of the eponymous American animated television series. He is voiced by Will Arnett and was created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. Prior to the time the series takes place in, BoJack had starred in a fictional hit 1990s sitcom called Horsin' Around. After the show ended, BoJack struggled to find acting work, instead living off residuals from Horsin' Around's syndication.
BoJack, a self-loathing and alcoholic anthropomorphic narcissistic Thoroughbred horse, has depression and often engages in self-destructive behavior. He frequently drinks, takes drugs to excess, and has difficulty maintaining positive relationships with others.
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Fictional biography
BoJack Horseman was born in San Francisco on January 2, 1964. His acting career peaked in the late 1980s to mid 1990s with the sitcom, Horsin' Around, about a bachelor horse caring for three orphaned human children, and was stagnant until The BoJack Horseman Show debuted in 2007. This new edgier show was canceled after only one season for both its abysmal ratings and critical polarization. Though he began as a bright-eyed young actor, he had since grown bitter, deeply depressed, and jaded towards Hollywoo and who he had become post-fame. BoJack had been shown to be caring and insightful, but his insecurities, loneliness, and desperate need for approval often result in self-destructive actions that devastate those around him. Many of his issues stem from substance abuse (drugs and alcohol), decisions he has made throughout his career, personal vices, and issues with his unhappy parents during childhood.
Seasons 1–2
In Season 1, BoJack makes a comeback attempt, trying to act once again. He receives an advance to write a memoir, but after difficulties starting, his publisher hires Diane Nguyen as his ghostwriter as she had already written a biography on BoJack's childhood hero, Secretariat . Throughout the season, BoJack gets on the news when he calls the troops "jerks", sabotages Todd's Rock opera, and drunkenly steals the Hollywood D, changing the name of the city to 'Hollywoo' throughout the rest of the show.
At one point, BoJack attempts to apologize to his old friend, Herb Kazzaz, who is dying from cancer, with whom he originally created Horsin' Around. BoJack feels guilt over the fact that he did not defend Herb after he was fired in the 90s after being outed as gay. However, because BoJack had abandoned him, took such a long time to make an effort to apologize, and his apology was insincere, Herb rejects his apology and refuses to forgive BoJack. This event, as well as subsequently wrestling with Herb over a telescope (the telescope broke during their fight) after Herb kicks BoJack out of his house followed by exclaiming that BoJack is "a selfish goddamn coward who takes whatever he wants and doesn't give a shit about who he hurts" is shown to deeply affect BoJack for the remaining of his life.
Despite difficulty during the writing process, the book receives positive reviews, and brings BoJack back into the spotlight once more with him even winning an award for his memoir.
In Season 2, he lands the role of Secretariat in a biopic of the famous horse racer and dates a female owl network executive named Wanda after she awakens from a 20 year coma. However, he struggles with the main role of Secretariat and with the production in jeopardy, he inadvertently causes Secretariat's director, Kelsey Jannings, to be fired after they snuck in to the Nixon library to illegally shoot a shot for the film in order for it to be as accurate as possible and is replaced with someone who is subservient to the producers' demands.
Because Diane is immensely mortified to return home to her (at the time) husband Mr. Peanutbutter from her being disillusioned spending time in a ravaged by war Cordovia with a self-serving and pretentious philanthropist spiraling into depression she asks BoJack if she can stay at his house, which he agrees to.
Seasons 3–5
In Season 3, BoJack's role in Secretariat earns him an Oscar nomination and has Anna help him win an Oscar award, though it is later revealed to be a mistake. Subsequently, he and his roommate, Todd Chavez, have a falling out over BoJack's transgressions he committed against Todd. As a result, Todd calls BoJack out on his habitual toxic behaviors and is no longer friends with him. BoJack then copes by going on a drug-induced bender with his friend and former co-star in Horsin' Around, Sarah Lynn, which results in her death. Despite being hired again to do a sequel show to Horsin' Around, BoJack runs away fearing he will corrupt his female child co-star like Sarah Lynn after a child actor on set tells BoJack she wants to be like him when she grows up and nearly attempts vehicular suicide on a highway, but stops upon seeing a group of cross-country running horses.
In Season 4, he comes to terms with Sarah Lynn's death after months of avoiding the public eye at his old grandparents' summer lake house in Michigan and meets with Hollyhock, a young horse who at first believes BoJack to be her biological father, but is later revealed to be his half-sister as a result of an affair between BoJack's father and his parents' maid. He also deals with his mother suffering from dementia. His mother lives with him after getting kicked out of her nursing home for a while until BoJack put her in a different nursing home when he discovered she was spiking Hollyhock's drinks with dangerous weight loss pills out of dismay for her weight, resulting in her passing out on BoJack's bathroom floor and being hospitalized. BoJack lands the starring title role on Philbert, an original detective web-series that streams on WhatTimeIsItRightNow.com Flip McVick pitches to the website with the assistance of BoJack's agent Princess Carolyn.
In Season 5, while working on Philbert, BoJack has an existential crisis about how Philbert intersects with many aspects of his personal life and begins dating co-star Gina Cazador. During the show's production, he suffers an on-set accident and develops an addiction to prescription painkillers he was prescribed to manage his physical pain from his injuries.
The first season of Philbert becomes a huge success, and production of season 2 begins almost immediately; during this time, however, BoJack's drug problem worsens until one day on set, while heavily under the influence of painkillers (and likely Philbert-based schizophrenia), he chokes Gina and forgets shortly after (Princess Carolyn shows BoJack a video that was taken of him choking Gina on set for him to understand the gravity of what he did to her while he was high during them both being on set with each other).
Season 6
In the first half of Season 6, he is seen as having been healed significantly as a result of his 6 month stint in rehab. In the season six episode "The Face of Depression", it is revealed he has been coloring his hair black for the last 20 years; the real color of his hair is grey. At the end of this episode, BoJack accepts a role as a drama teacher at Wesleyan University, where Hollyhock is a student, after Raven-Symoné removes herself from consideration.
He enjoys this new job and humble life, forging a deep connection with his students and discovering a newfound love of teaching, though he struggles to connect with Hollyhock (attending her rugby games and even learning how rugby works so he can understand the sport), who over winter break learned about him intoxicating Maddy to excess causing her to get alcohol poisoning and silencing Pete in New Mexico, though she does not directly confront him on this.
In the second half of season 6, after a student actor showcase with Diane, Princess Carolyn, and Todd in attendance, BoJack receives a phone call from Charlotte telling him that reporters have been pestering her and Penny in their home for information about his time in New Mexico and orders him to get rid of them; this gives BoJack an anxiety attack and causes him to come to terms with the fact that details of his past are about to come to light. Todd and Diane start to notice BoJack reverting back to his old ways and are concerned the fears of BoJack getting exposed for his past mistakes are getting to his head. The following week, the Hollywoo Reporter publishes an article providing all the details of Sarah Lynn's death, revealing to the public for the first time BoJack's complicity in it.
BoJack attempts to capitalize on the upcoming interview with Biscuit Braxby regarding his role in Sarah Lynn's death. While initially receiving praise for his honesty during his 1st interview, he is effectively "canceled" after the second interview (also with Braxby) uncovers his influential erratic relationships with women in his circle, including Sarah Lynn, and his true culpability: he waited 17 minutes to call the ambulance to save Sarah Lynn, as well as his defensiveness towards Braxby lambasting him for his past transgressions. BoJack hits rock-bottom, losing his teaching job, his house, all his money, his relationship with Hollyhock, and is overall blackballed in Hollywood.
BoJack moves in with Mr. Peanutbutter, who is ecstatic to have him live with him. He forms an unlikely friendship with fellow "canceled" actor Vance Waggoner, who encourages him to channel his anger into work, which culminates in them creating their first project together, a bawdy, low-brow comedy film called The Horny Unicorn.
Development
Creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg came up with initial kernel of BoJack as the "story of a guy who's had every opportunity imaginable, but still can't find a way to be happy, and what is that about for him?" BoJack's house and overall emotional arc were inspired by Bob-Waksberg's first house in Los Angeles, where he felt "on top of the world and also never more isolated or alone." Bob-Waksberg considered other ideas for BoJack's occupation like him being a former racehorse before deciding on him being a former actor. Supervising director Mike Hollingsworth noted that a former actor can still act in their later life but aging does not allow for athletes to continue successfully when they are older.
Reception
Actor Will Arnett, who voices BoJack, stated in an interview with Vanity Fair that he was drawn to playing the character due to his deep character flaws, namely his emotional scarring, and that he believes BoJack is both lovable and unlovable at the same time. Arnett has received praise for his portrayal of BoJack and ability to balance comedy with emotion, especially in the fifth-season episode "Free Churro", which consists almost entirely of a eulogy that BoJack delivers for his mother at her funeral. Screen Rant ranked the character as the fifth most likeable in the show, opining that despite his narcissism, he is "smart, cynical, and direct".