Over the past five years, “Solar Opposites” established itself as a perfect adult animated sci-fi comedy utopia in an already crowded media landscape – until the asteroid hit (the asteroid, of course, being Hulu deciding to cancel the series after six seasons).
As such, Monday marked both the Season 6 premiere and series finale of the Mike McMahan-co-created sitcom, bringing a dramatic end to the stories of the four central aliens/replicants, as well as The Wall and SilverCops. Before the wrap-up, stars Dan Stevens, Mary Mack, Sean Giambrone and EPs Josh Bycel and McMahan spoke to TheWrap about saying goodbye to Korvo, Terry, Jesse and Yumyulack.
“It’s a huge gift, every season of a show feels like a gift these days. There’s no guarantee that things go beyond one or two seasons sometimes, so the fact that we got six is amazing and I had a great time on those three seasons,” Stevens told TheWrap (after replacing original co-creator/star Justin Roiland in Season 4). “Of course I’d like to do more, I think we all would. But it’s a good way to let it go, rather than everyone getting tired of it.”
“I love revealing what we’ve been working on since Season 3, the ’99 Ships’ episode where we created the SilverCops and we knew all along how they were involved in the Solars’ story. We sped that up a little bit because we found out it was going to be our last season, but I’m glad we had enough information to be able to come to this satisfying conclusion,” McMahan said. “Nothing ever happens the way you think it will, and I think we’re going through that historically now. You always have to be vigilant and you always have to be honest – like, honesty and integrity are more important than controlling people, even if it’s for their own good, like in The Wall.”
So what long-running storylines are the voice actors excited for fans to finally see come to an end?
“The Wall. I mean, damn, it’s a lot of drama and a lot of tension. It’s too much stress, so I’m glad it’s ending, because people were freaking out,” Mack said, while Giambrone added, “I’m excited about the Yumyulack-Jesse high school storyline, because the show kind of started with them there, so there’s some cool conclusions with that.”
“I think seeing Korvo and Terry’s romantic relationship develop and deepen, you know, the power shifts. It’s very complex. I think it’s a very satisfying journey for them,” Stevens shared. “It’s a great dynamic. And, apparently, one of the few extraterrestrial gay relationships on television – I hope it won’t be the last.”
“They became more and more human as they disappeared. Mike always had this idea that they were losing their money, and I think having access to the money and diamonds that they wanted set them apart from humans. Losing them, it allowed them to be a little more human. They had to go out and find work. The kids had to become smart kids, and they had that in them,” Bycel added. “I think it also allowed us to finally unlock what solars could actually be in this world, as they sort of get used to living on Earth.”
But what about the possibility of “Solar Opposites” appearing in future episodes of its Adult Swim sister series? “It would be funny if we crossed over with ‘Rick and Morty,’ but our guys never met Rick and Morty – a ‘Waiting for Godot’ thing where they just hung out with Jerry all the time or something,” McMahan hypothesized.
Ultimately, the team is just happy to have found a devoted audience, even if the series and its iconic Christmas specials are ending sooner than they expected.
“This show started unexpectedly during the pandemic, and it turned into a show about watching two aliens who fought all the time, slowly fall in love and discover they could be a family. I always felt like the fandom was really on our side. We took a lot of risks with the show, we did a lot of crazy things that could have made people crazy or confused them and our theory on this show is that our audience is more smarter than anyone gives them credit for. for,” concluded McMahan. “Our audience wants to watch something thought-provoking and strange and silly in an intelligent way, as long as it’s thoughtful and serious. We’ve always tried to improve the show in a million different ways, and that’s because the audience has always rewarded us for taking risks, and I just think that’s a really, really rare thing: the fans show up and support you when you do something good. “
All six seasons of “Solar Opposites” are now streaming on Hulu.
