'Solar Opposites' Already Has Story Arcs Planned For At Least Three Or Four Seasons
The first season of Solar Opposites launched on May 8, and after just four days, it was already Hulu's most watched title in the history of the streaming service. That means it's likely that the series will be renewed for a second season any time now, and the good news is creators Justin Roiland and Mike McMahan already have story arcs planned for at least three or four seasons.
Leading up to the release of Solar Opposites, we had the chance to catch up with both Mike McMahan and Justin Roiland to talk about the series, and our discussion eventually came around to the hopeful future of the series. Since Hulu says more than 40% of viewers who started the series ending up binge-watching all eight episodes of the first season within two days, the future of the series seems like it's on solid ground. Thankfully, McMahan and Roiland are ready and raring to move on to a second season, and they already know exactly what they'd do with it. But beware, there's some sensitive spoiler material for those who haven't seen the entire first season yet.
During our interview with Mike McMahan, he revealed they have plenty of plans for future seasons. The co-creator said:
"We have stuff planned out for about three or four seasons on both sides. We have stuff that we know we want to do with the mission of the aliens on Earth and expanding our understanding of their relationship with The Pupa and meeting other aliens who are on similar missions and seeing how that's going. We're touching on a little bit of that in season two."
The season finale featured a psyche-out when it came to encountering other aliens from their homeworld, but it's good to hear that there will be other aliens featured in future episodes to expand the scope of the show.
But when it comes to the surprising subplot involving the shrunken human habitat in Yumyulack and Jesse's room known as The Wall, they apparently have planned that out even further:
"The Wall story we have even more planned out... I'm a huge geek, and I've never gotten to write a straight-up sci-fi survival story. So not only did we have all of The Wall stuff for the entire first season planned out, but we've also got tentpole, structural things that we knew we wanted for The Wall in a second, third, and fourth season, if we got picked up that far. I love the first season Wall stuff, but where that story goes in the second season has some of my favorite episodes. It will be completely surprising."
However, don't expect the stories within The Wall and the stories happening with the aliens to become more intertwined as time goes on. McMahan explained:
"I don't want to give too much away about The Wall, but the world of the people who are in The Wall is one that exists and operates separately from the replicants. However, there are things that happen on the aliens side of the episodes that do have effects on The Wall. You'll be seeing in the second season that Jesse and Yumyulack almost treat the wall a little bit like TV. They're studying humans and learning from them and putting their enemies in there.
The fun of it, to me, is never really bending on the fact that the people in The Wall treat the situation as seriously as they would real life drama. Even though they're drinking out of thimbles arguing over candy they're bartering with, for them it's life or death. Trying to keep that story growing in an unexpected way and in a really emotional, dramatic way is what we do in the second season and what we tried to do in this first season as well."
What about that adorable little blob The Pupa? The season finale teased some kind of unknown evolution for the little guy. Will he be more prominently featured in the second season? How will that element evolve with each season? McMahan says:
"There are things you will see each season as far as seeing a change in The Pupa, and there is a story about it you will be tracking, but The Pupa is a very slow burn. We aren't writing a show that we want to burn something like that so quickly because we like who The Pupa is before it evolves, and we like the uncomfortable stasis it has with Terry and Corvo and the replicants. We want to tell as many stories as we can. We have a million ideas for how the family and the mission is right now, and you will be seeing changes in The Pupa each season, but not so much that it dramatically changes the show until you least expect it."
Even though McMahan said there are plans for at least three or four seasons, Roiland thinks they can keep this show going for a long time. The Rick and Morty co-creator said:
"I believe we can keep it going for quite a bit longer. There's a lot of stuff we can do with these characters. Having the door open to sci-fi stuff, having the door open to the high school stuff, Terry and Corvo and the shit that they're up to, and of course The Wall. There are all kinds of cool ideas that are like The Wall that could become subplots. I really think this show has some significant legs, and it's fun to make. Just in doing press we've come up with a handful of episodes where we're like, 'Okay, this would be for season three since we've filled up season two.' They're really fun ideas."
The good news is that once the second season is (hopefully) ordered, Roiland and McMahan have the episodes ready to go. Roiland said:
"It's eight episodes. Writing is wrapped. It's moving along pretty quick. I don't know when we'll find out if we're doing more, but I love the show, so I hope we get to do more."
The first season of Solar Opposites is available on Hulu right now. Stay tuned for our full interviews with Mike McMahan and Justin Roiland later this week.