Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Hulu

  • ‘Solar Opposites’ and ‘Koala Man’ Creative Teams Discuss Relationship with Hulu

    ‘Solar Opposites’ and ‘Koala Man’ Creative Teams Discuss Relationship with Hulu

    With Hulu having further developed its base of original adult animation content, the question can permeate of how much of a presence does the streaming service have in overseeing the content it distributes. Luckily for the creative teams behind the likes of Solar Opposites and the upcoming Koala Man, the Disney majority-owned platform appears to have a strong tolerance for what can be included in these shows. Murphy’s Multiverse had the opportunity to sit down with the head creative figures of these two shows during San Diego Comic-Con last week, and they offered some insight regarding their working relationship with Hulu. Justin Roiland, co-creator of Solar Opposites and executive producer on Koala Man, even went on to discuss his fortune when it comes to this dynamic.

    I’m really lucky to have partners at Hulu, and all the folks I’m working with, and even at Adult Swim. Everyone that believes in it and is chill. Obviously, Rick and Morty was the foot in the door to get us to Solar Opposites. And then our relationship with Hulu… we’re all friends with the network executives, it’s really a magical thing that is not always the case. There’s certain places where the executives, there’s a very adversarial line. But they (Hulu) trust us and on Solar, we get to do what we want to do. We get notes here and there, but they will let us address them how we feel best to address.

    Justin Roiland

    This concept was further confirmed by specific members of creative team members on both of the series respectively. Specifically, a theme permeated in the writer’s rooms trying to push the boundaries of what they could get away with, only to learn that Hulu was fully on board with keeping the creative process unfettered. Solar Opposites co-creator Mike McMahan and Koala Man executive producer Dan Hernandez both addressed this topic.

    Sometimes we’re like ‘Can we try to piss Hulu off?’ And then we never do, but the episodes come out like we were trying to, which I really like…We’ve tried to get Hulu to tell us ‘no,’ and they just won’t do it.

    Mike McMahan

    There were a few times where we got to ‘Could we do that?’ And Hulu was like ‘Sure, sounds good.’ And I was like, ‘I can’t believe they let us do that.’ It’s been amazing to be at Hulu where there’s nothing that’s holding us back from telling the funniest, best stories that we can think of.

    Dan Hernandez

    Ultimately, this seems to be a good sign that Hulu will remain a strong home for the high concept and daring projects that creative minds such as Justin Roiland and Michael Cusack can concoct. This is certainly the case as seen with the consistent success of Solar Opposites and the high anticipation that has built for the upcoming Koala Man.

    This interview was done in conjunction with Saturday Morning Cereal, Pixelated Geek, and JVS Media & Productions.

  • ‘Koala Man’ Executive Producers Preview Upcoming Series

    ‘Koala Man’ Executive Producers Preview Upcoming Series

    Hulu will be the home to the latest creation from the mind of animator Michael Cusack, a rising star within the field based on the cult followings from various recent projects. Koala Man follows middle-aged dad Kevin and his not-so-secret identity, whose only superpower is a burning passion for following the rules and snuffing out petty crime in the town of Dapto. During the past weekend’s San Diego Comic Con events, Murphy’s Multiverse had the opportunity to sit down with Cusack, alongside executive producers Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez to discuss the upcoming series.

    Michael Cusack and Benji Samit discussed how this project serves as a major step towards creating a project appealing to a more general audience, but also maintaining the goal of keeping the content of the show generally in line with the content of Cusack’s previous work.

    Koala Man is the experiment in doing something more mainstream, more for a broad audience. But still trying to keep that edge that I had on YouTube and with other projects. But seeing how to marry that with something that’s a bit more serialized.

    Michael Cusack

    I sort of took it as a mission to take Michael (Cusack)’s Youtube, AdultSwim energy…which is also funny and good, but bringing it to a half-hour family sitcom adventure, superhero thing. To bring in a bigger audience and widen it, but also not lose sight on what makes Michael uniquely Michael.

    Benji Samit

    One element of this series that stood out during the interview was the creative team discovering a surprisingly emotional core to the show that has helped define Koala Man as a truly distinct entity in the universe of Michael Cusack projects and adult animation at large. Executive Producers Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez both discussed this topic.

    We’re also really proud that the show is weirdly very optimistic and very emotional…Koala Man really loves his family, and really loves his town, and really cares about other people in a kinda earnest, almost naive kind of way sometimes. I think there is a sweetness to the show that is a little bit unexpected in the adult animated space.

    Benji Samit

    One of the cool things with the show is that it kinda sneaks up on you that it’s a superhero adventure. And that by the end of the season, you’re like ‘I’m really invested in the story of what’s happening and I really didn’t expect that’. And that was intentional on our part. That was something that we really spent a lot of time talking about. I think a lot of the time, the more seriously that you take something, the more funny it is and that it can actually offer it at the same time. And I think that this has been a real experiment in that. So at least for me, when I watch the finale, I’m emotionally moved.

    Dan Hernandez

    Koala Man is produced by 20th Television Animation and will be released on Hulu. The main cast consists of Michael Cusack, Hugh Jackman, Rachel House, Jarrad Wright, Claudia O’Doherty, Michelle Brasier, and Natalie Tran. And this past Thursday’s San Diego Comic-Con panel confirmed the additions of Sarah Snook and Demi Lardner to the principal cast. 

    This interview was done in conjunction with Saturday Morning Cereal, Pixelated Geek, and JVS Media & Productions.

  • ‘Solar Opposites’ Executive Producers Discuss Creative Process for the Series

    ‘Solar Opposites’ Executive Producers Discuss Creative Process for the Series

    Solar Opposites recently released its third season, consisting of 11 episodes, on Hulu, and much praise has been given to the extremely high concept ideas that are presented and the overall strong writing from the adult animated series. During this past weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con events, Murphy’s Multiverse had the opportunity to sit down with series co-creator Mike McMahan and executive producers Josh Bycel and Danielle Uhlrik to talk about the creative and writing process behind Solar Opposites. McMahan opened the interview by discussing the ultimate creative freedom the team has and their ability to formulate absurd pitches into tangible content. 

    Half the time, I’ll pitch an insane thing, Joshua (Bycel) will go, ‘Well we can’t do that,’ and we’ll spend the day thinking how we can do it.

    Mike McMahan

    A good portion of the “insane” ideas that end up being folded into the series come from a deep lexicon of film and television references. Both Danielle Uhlirk and Josh Bycel spent some time talking about these inspirations that permeate in the writer’s room.

    We love TV and movies so much that the more we can break the rules, the better. And then we are just surprising ourselves, because, at the end of it, we are just trying to entertain ourselves in the (writer’s) room.

    Danielle Uhlrik

    So many times, so many of the nods or the homages are only things that we like that no one else is asking for. Like no one was asking for us to do a storyline about Sylvester Stallone’s movie Daylight, but we thought it was funny and Mike (McMahan) and I liked it.

    Josh Bycel

    With that in mind, Mike McMahan brought up the advantages that the animation medium has in being able to reach these unpredictable concepts that the creative team produces.

    When you’re watching an animated show, you know right at the beginning…it isn’t going to be a ‘standard’ show. So how are we going to wield that? Executives always ask, ‘Why is this animated?,’and for us, it’s because you’re never going to predict what happens in the show.

    Mike McMahan

    Josh Bycel also took some time to discuss the joy he and the writing team get to have in getting to branch out into various genres of film and television for this show, even within their distinct background of comedy.

    When we get to do The Wall stuff and now with this new season, SilverCops…for us it’s so fun as we get to cosplay being drama writers. We’re like nerdy comedy writers that no prestigious drama would ever hire, but we get to do our own prestigious drama with tiny little people eating Peeps.

    Josh Bycel

    On the concept of The Wall, Mike McMahan revealed that the Solar Opposites team still has large amounts of story to be told from that arc that will cover a good portion of the show’s future.

    I think for The Wall, we have at least two or three more seasons figured out, but luckily it’s such an open book. Because you can switch the genre and because it’s just little people in a society…it’s like a video game in a way. We can always adjust it and change it, we just have to introduce new villains and new heroes and let time pass. The one thing we push the breaks on is we don’t want to jump ahead, it’s more funny to us to be like ‘Okay, now the Cherie character has a baby, but next season it can’t be a teenager, that almost has to be a toddler and let it be a slow, unexpected serialized thing.’ But then because we get to genre-change all the time, it feels like a different Oscar-movie thriller every year which we never get to write that stuff as comedy writers. It’s like a whole new sandbox, and we never run out of ideas

    Mike McMahan

    If Solar Opposites is able to maintain the high level of creative quality it has exuded thus far for the multiple future seasons of content the writing team has accounted for, Hulu could have a long-term success story on their hands. All three seasons of Solar Opposites are currently available to watch on Hulu and a fourth is currently in development.

    This interview was done in conjunction with Saturday Morning Cereal, Pixelated Geek, and JVS Media & Productions.

  • ‘Koala Man’ Writers Preview the Scope and Creative Freedom of their Upcoming Series

    ‘Koala Man’ Writers Preview the Scope and Creative Freedom of their Upcoming Series

    Animator Michael Cusack‘s universe is expanding with the upcoming release of Koala Man. Murphy’s Multiverse had the opportunity during San Diego Comic-Con to sit down with the YOLO and Smiling Friends creator, alongside writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit to discuss the new superhero animated series coming to Hulu. Cusack started by providing a template of what to expect in terms of the scope of this new world.

    It’s usually low stakes, relatable kinda small town things that I’ve experienced or other writers experienced. Not just from Australia, but small towns too…and using small stakes, low stakes situations and seeing where they can go. Either they go big and surreal or we commit to the low stakes and see where that goes too. It’s a sandbox where we can just do what we want.

    Michael Cusack

    As someone who has been involved with various bombastic, adult-oriented animations in his career, Cusack and the writer’s team provided some insight into the tone that we can expect from the project.

    It’s good to have the freedom for sure. In saying that, it doesn’t mean that we’re like ‘oh we can do anything so it’s got to be as gratuitous as we want’. It’s not really that hardcore adult. It’s really just an elevated Simpsons in a way.

    Michael Cusack

    They also highlighted how much creative freedom they had while working on it. So, no idea was shot down at any time throughout their time working on it.

    But I think that it is exciting to not limit where the story can go and how it can be expressed. Because sometimes in others’ writers rooms…you pitch something that’s hilariously funny and go ‘oh but we could never do that’. But that phrase was not uttered in the Koala Man writers room.

    Benji Samit

    Koala Man is produced by 20th Television Animation and will be released on Hulu. The main cast consists of Michael Cusack, Hugh Jackman, Rachel House, Jarrad Wright, Claudia O’Doherty, Michelle Brasier, and Natalie Tran. And Thursday’s San Diego Comic-Con panel confirmed the additions of Sarah Snook and Demi Lardner to the principal cast. 

    This interview was done in conjunction with Saturday Morning Cereal, Pixelated Geek, and JVS Media & Productions.

  • Justin Roiland on his Creative Collaboration on ‘Koala Man’ and ‘Solar Opposites’

    Justin Roiland on his Creative Collaboration on ‘Koala Man’ and ‘Solar Opposites’

    As someone deeply ensconced with numerous projects simultaneously, Justin Roiland is very much grateful for the creative relationships he has with collaborators on his various adult animation programs. While sitting down with Murphy’s Multiverse at San Diego Comic-Con, Roiland discussed his involvement with the creative team and the production behind the upcoming Koala Man series.

    I surround myself with amazing, talented people. For Koala Man, I’ve got Benji (Samit), Dan (Hernandez), and Michael (Cusack). Which that’s their thing, I’m very hands-off with that show. My whole thing was like ‘I just need Michael to have a show’ and so my job was to just get that show green-lit, and then to protect them from notes, and to protect them from…if there was anything that’s bumming them out, that they feel really strongly about, then they can call me and I can step in. And surprisingly, I haven’t had to do it that much because Hulu is so fucking chill. They believe in the show. They’re like ‘yeah this is great.’ But in terms of actually writing and the moment-to-moment and the writer’s room, I’m two arm-lengths away from it. I’m more of a fan of it.

    Justin Roiland

    Being able to have that level of distance between himself and the series shows the level of trust Roiland holds with his collaborators. It’s certainly notable to see an influential figure such as Roiland go to bat on that level for Michael Cusack in providing the outlet for him to have his own Hulu animated series. Roiland compared his involvement, and his trust in his collaborators, with Koala Man to that of his own series in Solar Opposites.

    And then for Solar Opposites, it’s Danielle (Uhlarik), Josh (Bycel), and Mike (McMahan), and our writers on that. And you know I’m closer to that one obviously, but still that show would not be as good as it is…we have all these amazing ideas coming from our other crew that feed into that show.

    Justin Roiland

    Justin Roiland certainly expresses a great deal of respect and trust in his creative co-workers. And with that, it’s not a surprise to see the developing success that has been established through this new era of adult-oriented animated projects with Hulu.

    This interview was done in conjunction with Saturday Morning Cereal, Pixelated Geek, and JVS Media & Productions.

  • Justin Roiland On Why He Prefers to Tell Alien-Based Stories

    Justin Roiland On Why He Prefers to Tell Alien-Based Stories

    A common theme found in the world of projects by Justin Roiland, between the likes of Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites, is the primary focus on alien characters and worlds. While some may view it as a simple creative coincidence, there is a deeper reason behind why Roiland comes back to them when developing his shows. While sitting down with Murphy’s Multiverse during San Diego Comic-Con, Roiland discussed this subject in detail.

    There’s no coincidence that a lot of my shows are alien-based. Because when you have an alien cast, it just eliminates a lot of identity politics and a lot of stuff goes out the window. And you can just focus on the characters underneath. And that’s how I live my life. I don’t care what you are, I just want to know who you are as a person and your heart and your brain.

    Justin Roiland

    Being able to distinctly take away the concept of identity politics from stories of character development is a fascinating concept in today’s day and age. The stigmas and biases from society can’t help but not be a major factor in how the world is viewed, and it especially can be pervasive in the analysis of artistic and entertainment content. By taking it away, Roiland has found his way to adeptly tell human stories through the means of setting them as different species within the universe. And with that in mind, Roiland’s point in this interview provides newer context to how his projects can be perceived.

    This interview was done in conjunction with Saturday Morning Cereal, Pixelated Geek, and JVS Media & Productions.

  • ‘Succession’s’ Sarah Snook, Demi Lardner Join Cast of Hulu’s ‘Koala Man’

    ‘Succession’s’ Sarah Snook, Demi Lardner Join Cast of Hulu’s ‘Koala Man’

    New additions to the cast of Hulu’s upcoming animate comedy series Koala Man were announced at the series’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con. Succession actress Sarah Snook and Australian comedian Demi Lardner join a cast featuring Michael Cusack and Hugh Jackman.

    Snook is set to play the character Vicky, who believes her husband Kevin, the somewhat pathetic titular hero, is just going through a phase. She tolerates him as Koala Man, a superhero whose only superpower is an intense passion for following rules and handling petty crime in the Australian town of Dapto. Lardner plays Alison, the daughter of Kevin and twin to Liam. Cusack, who also serves as creator and executive producer on the new series, voices multiple characters including the titular hero and his son, Liam. Jackman plays Big Greg, the most well-liked man in Dapto and head of the Town Council.

    Executive produced by Solar Opposites and Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland as well as Pokemon: Detective Pikachu writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, the new series is produced by 20th Television Animation for Hulu. Hernandez and Samit are also the series showrunners. Emma Fitzsimmons and Michael Cowap also serve as executive producers for Princess Bento. Scott Greenberg, Joel Kuwahara, Dana Tafoya Cameron and Ben Jones are executive producers for Bento Box Entertainment.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Only Murders in The Building’ Scores Season 3 Renewal

    ‘Only Murders in The Building’ Scores Season 3 Renewal

    Just last year the very first season of Only Murders in The Building hit Hulu earning unanimous praise from critics and viewers. The show was quickly renewed for a second season following the first season’s initial run and was quickly in front of cameras. Following tradition, the streamer has announced that the podcast escapades of Mabel, Oliver, and Charles will continue as a third season has been ordered midway as the second season continues.

    Fans can expect things at the Arconia to get even more interesting as surely another resident is set to meet an untimely fate as the series will indeed be returning, With Hulu sharing their excitement through this statement from president Craig Erwich.

    Only Murders in The Building is the true crown jewel of our slate. Its appeal across generations, the intersection of humor and heart, and its truly original approach are a hallmark of and testament to Dan [Fogelman], John [Hoffman], Steve, Marty, and Selena’s work. We are grateful to be able to continue telling the stories of Charles, Oliver and Mabel to viewers that have consistently shown us they crave more of this story.

    Craig Erwich

    There is currently no word on when the third season will begin rolling into production or just what new faces we’ll see around the Arconia. John Hoffman previously talked to The Hollywood Reporter and told them how if they’d make it to season 3, they’d really want to “up the stakes” for the trio. Considering how the second season started, they’d have to pull something even crazier in this finale than they did the first to up that.

    Source: THR

  • ‘Predator’ Prequel ‘Prey’ will Be Available in Comanche on Hulu

    ‘Predator’ Prequel ‘Prey’ will Be Available in Comanche on Hulu

    The first trailer for the upcoming Predator prequel, Prey, has finally arrived. Its first look promises some memorable action with the iconic alien taking on a Comanche nation from 300 years ago. The cast is almost entirely Native and First Nation talent,w which highlights the direction of the new film. Yet, Hulu and 20th Century went one step further as the entire film will be made available in Comanche as a language option, as well as subtitles.

    As such, this will be the first feature-length film on the direct-to-consumer streaming market to offer a film entirely in Comanche. It’s a wonderful decision to highlight the film’s exploration of the Comanche and that time period. We follow the story of a young female warrior trying to prove herself and setting out to protect her people from the alien predator that seemingly appears to threaten everyone it can get its blades on.

    Dan Trachtenberg has taken on directing duties based on a script from Patrick Aison. the cast consists of Amber Midthunder, Julian Black Antelope, Michelle Trush, Stormee Kipp, and newcomer Dakota Beavers. The Predator will be played by Dane DiLiegro. The first trailer offers an exciting action film that continues the franchise set up by John McTiernan back in 1997.

  • Hulu’s ‘Futurama’ Revival Would’ve Replaced John DiMaggio With a New Voice Actors Each Episode

    Hulu’s ‘Futurama’ Revival Would’ve Replaced John DiMaggio With a New Voice Actors Each Episode

    There was a lot of excitement when Hulu announced that they are working on a revival of the popular The Simpsons spinoff, Futurama. Coined as the show with the smartest writing team in the industry, it was a milestone series with some great comedy and drama. Not only that, but it also was one that seemingly wouldn’t go down without a fight as it kept returning even after it was canceled repeatedly. Yet, there was one discrepancy as John DiMaggio wasn’t confirmed to return as Bender during the Initial castings.

    While he would later join in after all as negotiations finally came to an end, he did reveal during Phoenix Fan Fusion what their initial plans were if he didn’t return. It looks like that they were “planning on using guest stars, [and] they were going to replace Bender’s voice each episode” The crowd did react with groans at the event, but it

    He did also reveal that he didn’t actually make more money off of the negotiations but rather made quite the statement, as he highlighted that “I didn’t get more money. But what I did get was a lot of respect, and a lot of head nods from people who are like, ‘Yo bro, I see you and thank you.” While it didn’t give him more money, it definitely created a stronger position for voice actors in the industry and hopefully supports them to get to a better place within the market.

    Source: Phoenix Fan Fusion via SlashFilm