Summary

Collider’s Joe Schmidt talks with David Horsby and Charlotte Nicdao for Mythic Quest Season 4.

The AppleTV+ series explores the video game industry within an office sitcom setting, starring Rob McElhenney, Ashly Burch, and Danny Pudi.

In this interview, Hornsby and Nicdao discuss the writing process, the show’s beloved standalone episodes and crossover ideas.

With an amazing history of comedy and voice performance, Mythic Quest knocked it out of the park, casting Charlotte Nicdao and David Hornsby. Nicdao burst onto the scene with Australian comedies, soon finding herself in front of the camera in massive films like Thor: Ragnarok. She’s also graced Star Trek: Lower Decks, Bluey, and Solar Opposites with her vocal talents. Hornsby famously deteriorated in front of our very eyes as the (fairly) iconic Rickety Cricket on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia but has happily made a nest for himself in some great Cartoon Network shows like We Bare Bears and Ben 10. Now, both co-star in the AppleTV+ series and serve as a writer and director.
Mythic Quest centers on a video game production company run by Ian Grimm (played by the show’s co-creator, Rob McElhenney) as they venture through the uneasy waters of their industry, dealing with movie adaptations, monetization features, and interoffice politics with a fantastic sense of humor. The previous season found Ian and Nicdao’s Poppy returning to their creative core with Mythic Quest, while Hornsby’s David works his hardest to unite the company as one unit. The series also stars Ashly Burch (Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 game) and Dani Pudi (Community).
Before Season 4 hit the streamer, Collider’s Joe Schmidt had the opportunity to chat with Hornsby and Nicdao about their love of voice acting, those special standalone episodes, and which surprising musical they’d like their series to crossover with. Nicdao discusses taking on the mantle of episode director, and Hornsby shares why it’s important for their cast and crew to be so involved in the series. You can watch the full conversation in the video above or read the transcript below.
Charlotte Nicdao on Directing and Poppy and Ian’s Season 4 Dynamic

“There’s something about each other that they need, no matter how toxic that relationship gets.”

COLLIDER: Charlotte, it was so awesome to watch your episode, your directorial debut. It’s really cool to see how Mythic Quest and the cast members and other people, the creatives, have been able to branch beyond behind the cameras and do these types of things. What was that challenge for you, and especially in a pivotal episode that sets the tone for your character specifically and what the tone for the season is in general?
CHARLOTTE NICDAO: Thank you so much. It was such an exciting experience. Directing is always something that I’ve been interested in, but even trying to become an actor, you’re like, “There’s no way this is going to work out for me. I can’t be an actor as my job.” If I could go back 10 years and tell myself, “Eventually you’re going to be acting on this incredible show that’s, like, your favorite show, and then the producers are going to trust you enough to let you direct an episode,” I just wouldn’t have believed it. The whole job is just a dream.
It was really fun to get to step into that role of director, especially because we all have these incredible creative relationships, not just with the cast, but with the crew, as well. A lot of the crew we’ve been working with since Season 1, so it felt quite comfortable to get to have these conversations on a different level about how we wanted the episode to feel, the little nods that we wanted to give to previous seasons, and to each character. I was honestly really sad when it was over. I was like, “Oh my gosh, now I just have to step back into acting,” which admittedly is a much easier job.
DAVID HORNSBY: Don’t say that!
NICDAO: Don’t let them know!
Your character this season, and your character really, throughout the whole show, has had this weird codependency with Rob’s character in the whole. I know there’s this romance angle that doesn’t really exist, but it’s more just this bond between these two people, and it really kind of flirts with that a lot this season. What do you think pushes this season into a new direction for Poppy and Ian’s relationship?
NICDAO: I think “codependent” is the word. I’ve always thought of them as being creative soulmates. They are soulmates, but you don’t think of it in a romantic way. It’s that there’s something about each other that they need, no matter how toxic that relationship gets. What I think is interesting about this season is when we pick up in Episode 1, Poppy has a boyfriend, and as you say, the relationship between Poppy and Ian isn’t romantic, but that definitely creates something kind of tricky in the dynamic because her attention is elsewhere, and she is less codependent this season, but Ian is no less codependent. So, the balance of scales have kind of moved in a way that these two people haven’t experienced before, and I think it makes it really funny in the early episodes, and really, something else in the later ones.

Image via Apple TV+

David, you have come from an environment from Always Sunny [in Philadelphia] and working with a lot of the people who have been instrumental in this show and you’re instrumental in this show and creating that environment for people like Charlotte, for people like Ashly [Burch], for Naomi [Ekperigin], who wrote an episode, for Imani [Hakim] and Danny [Pudi] to direct episodes this season, as well. What is that like to create this environment where you trust the team that you’ve built to grow in their careers and to do things as a part of the sitcom that has been lauded and creatively refreshing in so many different ways?
HORNSBY: Well, it’s empowering to be able to give someone an opportunity that they want but didn’t know they could have, certainly. So many of our cast are just creative in general, and I’ve been given that opportunity to start acting, but then to write, and then to be able to do both, and I know how fulfilling it can be. It’s a challenge sometimes, but it’s important for us all to keep pushing ourselves in whatever you do in life. I think especially as you get to a certain age, you want to kind of keep taking next steps and feel like you’re progressing. So, we feel like everyone in the cast is certainly capable of it, and as long as the desire is there and it brings life to our show to have that perspective of the cast directing, bringing their thoughts, helping raise our game, I think it’s a win win.
‘Mythic Quest’s Standalone Episodes Always Push the Plot

“It’s always surprising to us what it’s going to be.”

Image via Apple TV+

One of the most loved things, and whenever I talk to friends who are fans of the show, they always talk about the standalone episode. It’s one of the anticipated things every year, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Very timely, very creative in how you guys do it. What is the creative philosophy for y’all when you are doing these types of standalone episodes? What warrants it? I know that you guys have the spin-off, Side Quest, that’s coming out that allows you guys to do a few different creative things, so what makes the standalone episodes each season so special?
HORSBY: They have to incorporate into the story as a whole of the season and be additive to someone’s journey or the overall journey of the of the show. We don’t know going in what it’s going to be because until we fully break the season and understand, then it starts to emerge what piece we might need, or just, “Oh, this could help show a new side of this particular issue that Ian is dealing with or that Poppy’s dealing with.” So, that’s always what we’re looking for is something that is additive and enhances the season, but is also surprising, whether it’s a backstory episode or just anything that fleshes out the world in a surprising way. But it’s always surprising to us what it’s going to be.
This season, was it something that someone just came up with, like, “Hey, I have this crazy idea. What if we did this?” Or was it a little bit more baked in, like you said, after the fact? Because I was kind of blown away by this one this year and how out of left field it felt since it’s been so long.
HORNSBY: We’ve had notions of returning to certain characters and exploring other characters, and this just felt like the right time, because we felt it helped Ian’s story, and it helped him get to the next point, as well as shining a light on where Pootie is, and that felt like the right time.

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Both of you do extensive voice acting. Voice acting is obviously a huge part of the video game industry, but it also is a completely different set of tools in general. What does that bring to your skill set when you are coming on to set as an actor?
NICDAO: I love voice acting. I feel like it is, in a lot of ways, a completely different approach, for me, anyway. The way that I approach voice acting is that you’re really thinking about the dynamics of each particular line, whereas with live-action, I’m thinking about a whole scene, a whole episode, a whole season, whereas with voice acting, you really get into the specifics of, like, “How do I make this funny? How do I make this heartfelt, this sentence?” So I feel like getting into the specifics of that with voice acting is such a great tool to use when then coming into live-action where you should be thinking about the arc of a whole season. When you start to apply that specificity, sometimes you can find fun, interesting things in the minutia of the writing, especially when it’s really good writing.
HORNSBY: Why’d you do that to towards me?
NICDAO: Because you’re a really good writer. No, because I was being like, “And if it was good writing, then it would be even easier!”
Will ‘Mythic Quest’ Season 5 Tackle eSports?

“It really is an interesting world.”

Image via Apple TV+

You tackle the video game industry in the show very extensively. You work with Ubisoft to do a lot of cool things, and then Ashly Burch is a very prominent voice actress and has worked in the industry for a very long time. It’s really interesting to see how you incorporate that. Are there any things that you guys want to tackle from the craziness that is the video game industry in future seasons that you haven’t yet?
HORNSBY: We haven’t really explored eSports that much. That always feels like an area we’re dancing around. I went and saw the eSports final in the Kia Forum with my son for a game, and you just realize how powerful it is when there’s however many thousands of people watching these guys play a game. The teams and the coaching and seeing that dynamic, taking breaks, and talking strategy, it really is an interesting world, and I think that’s something we have our eye on if given another chance and if it can fit into our character stories.
Awesome. Charlotte, is there anything that you want to see?
NICDAO: My mind just then as you were talking was like, “Oh yeah, we really haven’t done that.” It’s such an interesting world to explore. I want to see that. Can I just copy his homework? [Laughs]
Yeah, that’s fine. I also want to ask you, because there’s this little crossover that happened. It’s a little known show, Abbott Elementary had a crossover with Always Sunny in Philadelphia, so I just have to ask if Mythic Quest had a crossover with another show, what would you want it to be?
HORNSBY: Any chance to act with Gary Oldman—Slow Horses. We could make a really weird combo. I don’t know what it would be. Or Schmigadoon! because I think we’ve got a lot of musically talented people. We could maybe make an interesting musical episode if we could find a way.
NICDAO: Oh, yeah! We should do a musical episode, for sure. I was just thinking, obviously it’s not running anymore, but I would love for Poppy Li to get to sit down with Liz Lemon and talk about how to navigate a difficult relationship with a male coworker.
Mythic Quest Season 4 is available to stream on Apple TV+.

Mythic Quest

Release Date

February 7, 2020

Network

Apple TV+

Directors

Todd Biermann, Pete Chatmon, Megan Ganz, Angela Barnes, Steve Welch, Catriona McKenzie, LP, Danny Pudi, Heath Cullens

Writers

Katie McElhenney, Ashly Burch, John Howell Harris, Aparna Nancherla, Naomi Ekperigin, Kyle Mack, Keyonna Taylor, Randall Valdez-Castillo, Emma dePaulo Reid