Damon Lindelof Talks The 'Over The Top' Violence Of His New Show, Mrs. Davis [Exclusive]

Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof's "Mrs. Davis" is going to be one seriously wild ride. /Film's Jacob Hall has called it "The Lonely Island riffing on Neal Stephenson," but he's also detected notes of Chuck Jones and Kurt Vonnegut. Anything this anarchic — and, praise the saints, original — in this day and age demands our attention. And if it's good, we must protect it with all our might.

It's both refreshing and frustrating to write about "Mrs. Davis" sight unseen. I'm not the most avid comic book reader or gamer nowadays, so it's exciting to know there isn't a rabid fanbase that's way ahead of me as I venture into this universe. But as a viewer who prefers to know as little as possible prior to watching a new movie or TV show, I'm tasked with laying down tracks to make it sound interesting for you, the potential Peacock subscriber. At least I know you're a Peacock subscriber because we're all watching Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne's "Poker Face," right? Right???

In any event, what the heck is "Mrs. Davis?" It is, near as I can tell, a fantasy series in which a nun named Simone (the great Betty Gilpin) does battle with an artificial intelligence known as Mrs. Davis, which has seized control of the world. Aside from its satiric tone, it sounds like one of the series' major selling points is its grisliness. As an old-school gorehound who grew up watching slasher flicks and reading Fangoria, this is decidedly down my alley. How gory are we talking?

/Film's Ryan Scott spoke with co-creator Lindelof at SXSW, and he explained the show's go-for-the-jugular nature thusly:

"[I]n the script, it says that the violence is excessive, it's over the top. It's meant to be sort of off-putting. I think we're signaling a couple of things there. The first is that when people are watching a show, you do want to signal early on, 'Here's what we're going for.' It's like, is the violence just gore for gore's sake? Or is there a slightly absurdist — like if someone's jumping through the air with like a sword through their body?"

Scott was knocked out by one particularly inventive kill, which prompted Lindelof to compare the show's universe to the hyperreal worlds of "John Wick" and "The Fast and the Furious." As Lindelof noted, "'Fast and Furious' is not supernatural, but it is supernatural."

Given that "Mrs. Davis" isn't connected to a pre-existing IP, Lindelof felt it was desirable to "adrenalize things coming right out of the gate." It's a wise decision, and he acknowledges that this is the flip side of his superb HBO series, "The Leftovers." "Mrs. Davis" is coming, and it's looking for a fight.

The melee begins when the series hits Peacock on April 20, 2023.