IR Interview: The Creatives & Star Of "WondLa" [Apple TV+] - Part II
Series Showrunner Bobs Gannaway, Voice Actress Jeanine Mason and Book Author Tony DiTerlizzi talk to The Inside Reel about approach, thematics, structure and the evolution of technology in regards to their new animated series: "WondLa" on Apple TV+.
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00:00What if I'm alone?
00:13What if I'm the only one?
00:14However, you're not alone.
00:15Someone out there wants me to find them.
00:16Time to jump!
00:17Ever!
00:18I think that's the great thing about science fiction, having talked to many people who
00:41have started or made it, it's about that optimism, it's about looking forward with a sense of
00:45hope, which is beautiful, and I've seen that a lot lately.
00:50Can you talk about using genre to do, specifically animation, to show these worlds and how they
00:56do it?
00:57Because obviously looking at these, how much did you understand the visual of what you
01:01were shown, what was going to happen versus the books?
01:05Because those are, it's two different things in your mind's eye.
01:08Totally, to an element you're thinking, okay, I know this creature is a water bear, and
01:14I can imagine that's really big, but then to see the renderings come back and to see
01:20the, then get them animated, it was, oh my God, it was, it's just like the best gig ever.
01:26You feel like, you know, you're literally in the ideal expression of like, what would
01:29it get to be an actor?
01:30And that's like, what would getting to be an actor look like?
01:33And it's like getting to live in imagination, and it does sort of feel like everybody is
01:37just like a kid in this collaboration.
01:39Everybody's so excited about, ooh, what if it did this, or what if it made this sound?
01:44That's all just so fun to get to be a part of realizing, you know?
01:49But I am absolutely drawn to science fiction.
01:52And I think right now is a beautiful time in our world for us to sit with science fiction
02:00and to allow it to help us to go, the world is changing.
02:03We feel always as if we're on a precipice of some sort or another, and whether we are
02:06right now in 2024, you know, with technology and AI and everything is obviously up for
02:12debate, you know?
02:12But when I look back historically, we've always felt like we're on a precipice of something.
02:16So to sit with your kids and assure them that the world is changing, but there is every
02:23reason to be hopeful, and they are equipped to handle and adapt and thrive.
02:28I feel like every generation is the right time for sci-fi, but I'm partial that right
02:32now feels like a specific, particularly important time.
02:34Hey, he's a friend.
02:36A friend?
02:37Uh-huh.
02:38Then what is his name?
02:39His name's Sheena.
02:41Right, Sheena?
02:42Oh, Shisha, vile human and that evil machine.
02:47Oh, we have had a day.
02:50Eva, where are we?
02:51It is against my programming to be out of Sanctuary.
02:54Ooh, too late for that.
02:56I'm not sure I compute what's going on here.
02:58Have you found the other humans?
03:00No, I haven't, but he has a Dynasty's patch.
03:04The aspect of story development and structure, you know, it's changed in the past 20 years.
03:10Oh, yeah.
03:11And how it needs to be approached.
03:12Can you talk about that, looking at the evolution of storytelling, not just because this is
03:17Apple TV+, but just in general, from your perspective?
03:21Well, that kind of falls into the category of episodic television versus serialized television
03:30and this sort of blending of what is a feature and what is a series now.
03:35And that's, you know, so in this case, having a quality, deep story, layered story and quality,
03:46you know, images in the world is going to elevate it up to being almost, you know,
03:51we really were aiming for feature quality.
03:53But unlike a feature, we're not limited to just, you know, an hour and a half or two
03:57hours, right?
03:57So, we can actually run multiple storylines.
04:00So, in this case, I had a bigger writer room than I've ever had before.
04:05Bigger sort of just production values that I've ever had in regards to the number of
04:11environments that we're creating for the show.
04:14So, but I think from a storytelling involvement, it's mostly about we're not limited to episodic,
04:21but we're also not limited to the time a feature would have.
04:23So, it's been very exciting for me because I've never done that before.
04:26Everything before this was mostly episodic.
04:28He is not human.
04:29Yet, we seem to understand him.
04:31Oh, that?
04:33Jar gum!
04:34Alien gum.
04:34Tastes like dirt, but magically makes you understand.
04:37I used it to fix you, which is probably why.
04:39Did you scan it?
04:41Of course.
04:42Did I scan it?
04:45Obviously.
04:46Alien substance was not scanned.
04:49Eva, what about him?
04:50Has he been scanned?
04:52Alien life form has not been scanned.
04:53Quiet!
04:54Mother!
04:55Please, let me handle him, okay?
04:57Listen, why don't you scan the area for other sanctuaries?
05:02Very well.
05:02That is the protocol.
05:05It's very lyrical, you know, and obviously with your dance background, all that kind of stuff,
05:09you know, but also being a Cuban American and everything like that, you understand sort of
05:14the rhythm, the idea, but also perspective and perception.
05:18How you have to perceive the world and the perspective within it.
05:21Can you talk about that within the guise of Eva and what she wants?
05:26What her goals and desires are, but what she needs to accomplish in your mind?
05:32Is it just survival or is it thriving?
05:36Man, I mean, I hope for everybody that they could move past survival and get to live and
05:43thrive, you know, and thriving.
05:45I think for Eva, she's so mission oriented.
05:48I think as young people, we are.
05:49We're so excited about what it is we're setting out to do and to contribute and to be a part
05:54of something bigger than ourselves.
05:57And, you know, the challenge just becomes even bigger for her when she emerges onto
06:03the surface of Rabona.
06:04She realizes I'm actually not prepared at all for this world.
06:08I don't know how to interact with it.
06:10But what I loved was that she approached interacting with it with compassion and curiosity.
06:18And she doesn't have a nature of destruction.
06:21You know, it's I think that's true to us.
06:24I think we don't that isn't our nature, you know, and the found family that she forges
06:30on that way.
06:33She doesn't in the great tradition of sci-fi, you know, she this as a genre, she does not
06:40see it as something that's just tolerated.
06:43She sees it as something to be celebrated, the differences that she is encountering and
06:47all these alien species.
06:49And I love the family that she forges sort of ragtag group.
06:53It's so good.
06:54I don't have information on restricted areas.
07:02Wanda, is someone looking for me?
07:08Intruder in sanctuary.
07:10What is that thing?
07:11I do not know.
07:11This vent shaft leads to the surface.
07:14Go!
07:16Whoa.
07:19Where am I?
07:20But that's what and then taking it to obviously what we're seeing today, because everything
07:24else influences everything else, you know, all your experiences, but it's like bringing
07:29in the aspect of mother of what, you know, computer intelligence can offer us, but where
07:34empathy sort of falls short, and you need those real life explorations into the unknown.
07:40Could you talk about that?
07:41Because that thematic and that mythology is so important to the story of Eva.
07:46Yeah, you know, it's funny, you're hitting on a couple different things.
07:48I mean, when I set out to write it in the book, mother, again, as a new parent, mother
07:54was like the helicopter parent, right?
07:56That was me going, will I be a helicopter parent?
07:58Like, I'm worried.
07:59Or will I be more like my dad was in the 70s, which is Rovender, which is like, hey, be
08:04home when the streetlights are on.
08:05Don't get hit by a car.
08:07You know, I'll see you for dinner.
08:09And, you know, the truth is, as parents, we're kind of wrestling with both of these things
08:13and trying to find the best, be the best parents we can be.
08:16But what I didn't anticipate was how quickly AI would become ever present and that here
08:24we are, you know, and I think within another decade, you know, we're going to see some
08:29insane things, maybe for the better, maybe not so much.
08:34But the idea of a robot caretaker doesn't seem that far off now, does it?
08:43I mean, it doesn't.
08:44I feel like we could see that in our lifetime.
08:47And so and at the time, I was trying to think of way beyond, you know, where we are now.
08:53So it is a fascinating concept of, you know, man makes machines and then the machines help
09:04make the man, you know, by raising us and informing us and educating us.
09:08But they're only, I think, as we're seeing in AI, they're only limited by what input
09:15we've given them.
09:16And AI doesn't lie, but it doesn't know the truth from non-truths either.
09:25She is a human.
09:28Okay, someone had a little too much to drink.
09:32No one have seen human for a long time.
09:34If this is Earth, what happened?
09:37And where is everybody?
09:39You are looking for answers.
09:42I want to know what happened to the humans.
09:44Oh my.
09:47Something so fragile should not be so bold.
09:50Perhaps that is why you're the last of your kind.