Mythic Quest Co-Creator Megan Ganz On Poppy And Ian's Big Origin Story Episode [Exclusive Interview]
"Mythic Quest" has done it again. The Apple TV+ series about a team of dysfunctional video game designers spends the majority of each season as a geeky, raucous workplace comedy, but at least once per season, it switches gears completely. In one half-hour detour per year, without fail, the show morphs into a character-driven tearjerker.
In its debut season, the show gave us "A Dark Quiet Death," a magnificent one-off starring Cristin Miloti and Jake Johnson as a couple who fall in and out of love while creating the video game of their dreams. Season 2 shared the origin story of F. Murray Abraham's C.W. Longbottom (Josh Brener in flashback), a writer who was never quite able to live up to his own expectations for himself. Now, in its third season, the show has just delivered yet again with "Sarian," an episode that shows audiences how Ian (Rob McElhenney) and Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) first fell in love with video games.
"Sarian," which was written by Katie McElhenney and co-directed by Todd Biermann and series co-creator Megan Ganz, is one of the show's loveliest episodes to date. It's anchored by strong guest performances by Isla Rose Hall and Judah Prehn as kid versions of Poppy and Ian, with Lindsey Kraft appearing as Ian's mother, Olivia. By episode's end, viewers have a better understanding not just of Poppy and Ian's dynamic, but of the voids in their lives that led them to their greatest love — video games.
This week, I spoke with co-creator, executive producer, and episode co-director Megan Ganz via Zoom, and she graciously unpacked all things "Sarian" in honor of the latest one-off. She also shared a bit about "Mere Mortals," the just-announced "Mythic Quest" spinoff headed up by Ashly Burch, John Howell Harris, and Katie McElhenney.
Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
'We're going to see Poppy and Ian's problems come to a head'
I wanted to say congrats on "Mere Mortals." That's very exciting news.
Thank you.
But I mostly wanted to talk about this week's episode of "Mythic Quest," "Sarian." I think it was really beautiful and I was just wondering, first off, if you could just tell me a little bit about how it all came together.
Sure. Yeah. Our standalone episodes are really special to the show, and we try to do something a little different each time we do them, and have them be really informative to the whole season. And this season — the back half of the season, certainly — we're really digging into Poppy and Ian and their troubles as partners, and how those troubles didn't disappear when they left Mythic Quest like they thought they would. In fact, that they're rearing their head even moreso on Poppy's new game.
So "Sarian" is an episode that delves into their pasts. It finds both Poppy and Ian as 10-year-olds, and shows you what in their lives led them towards each other, but also, hopefully, shows you a little bit about why they might be headed for disaster, that this points at some of the baggage they're bringing to their relationship.
Yeah, it's a pretty emotional episode. It should be fun in some parts. So "Sarian" is there to inform the back half of the season, really. We're going to see Poppy and Ian's problems come to a head, and hopefully "Sarian" will give you a little more information about maybe where those problems originated, and possibly what they could do to solve them. That was the point of the episode.
'We have to make our own families sometimes'
In terms of Poppy and Ian's first meeting, I was curious: Did you know the origins of their relationship from early in the show, or did that kind of come to everyone as their characters progressed?
Well, we've established that he plucked her out of MIT, so that's all that's been established. And how they met is that she was at school. So we wanted to go back and see that day where they first met on campus and he recognized something in her.
But we also liked the comedic possibilities of seeing what Ian maybe looked like. Maybe he was even more outrageous than before he met Poppy. And in my mind, the reason he got toned down to where he was in season 1 was because Poppy just mercilessly made fun of him. And so, he sort of kept all his weirdness and he got more and more normal as the show went on.
But yeah, kind of seeing all the paths that led them to each other, and establishing that the things that were traumatic in their past actually planted the seeds that would lead to the most important relationship of their lives with each other. And that, ultimately, the connection that they didn't form with their parents has pushed them towards looking for that connection outside of their own families.
I think a lot of people can relate to that — that we have to make our own families sometimes and go out and find people that we connect with in friendships in different ways and co-workers that we really love. So that was what we were thinking about for that.
Yeah, that makes sense. I love the idea that season 1, Ian is...
Toned down.
Toned down in any way, yeah. [laughs]
Yeah, he's a toned-down version of what she first saw, which was all in white linen and a ridiculous beard, and clearly thought he was some sort of guru-type figure.
'Hey, stop acting like you guys aren't meant to be together'
In terms of Ian and Poppy's story, I thought it was really interesting because for the first two seasons, I wasn't quite sure if I wanted them to get together or just get along. And I think this episode really drove home the point that it's more of a creative love story than an actual [romantic] one. How important was it to y'all to get that type of relationship into the spotlight in the show?
I think a lot. I don't see a lot of representation of men and women working together in a non-romantic capacity and having meaningful relationships that aren't romantic. But I think, with every passing generation, men and women are finding that they have long-term important friends in their lives from the opposite sex that can be just as meaningful as romantic connections. And Rob [McElhenney] and I have that relationship. We've worked together for six-plus years now, and we have an incredibly deep relationship, and we see each other all the time.
But we just wanted to represent that on screen to say, "Look, you can have this partnership that's really meaningful, that has lots of conflict," and we wanted to do a "will-they-won't-they" that wasn't "will-they-won't-they kiss?" It's more, "will-they-won't-they get over their stuff, and just figure out that they love each other?" Which is what the audience wants, like, "Hey, stop acting like you guys aren't meant to be together. You are meant to be together. We want you to keep working together forever."
And so, I think that's what the major question of the show is. It's really, "Can they make it as a creative partnership or are they going to split up?" And it all goes back to "Dark Quiet Death" from the first season. Is that the trajectory that Poppy and Ian are on? And I don't think we fully resolve it at the end of season 3 either, because I think that's what the question of the entire show is. And it's really not "Can these people get over their problems with each other?" It's really, Can they get over their own stuff, and can they help each other get over their own stuff so that they can both elevate to a new place where they can be better partners for each other?"
'It's all about the creativity and ego'
Yeah, that makes sense. And since you mentioned "A Dark Quiet Death," I was wondering: I know that you said each standalone episode is meaningful within each season that it's in. Do you see thematic through lines between each of the standalones as well? Do you feel like they're connected, or do you try to make them quite separate?
I think that they're separate but they all ... I mean, the entire show is about creativity and the creative process. So "Dark Quiet Death" is about that. "Backstory!" is about that. "Backstory!" is about what happens when your abilities as a creative are not as maybe as good as what you wish that they were, [and] how do you reconcile that if you don't have the talent you were hoping that you had?
And I think "Sarian," this season, is about how a lot of people end up being creatives because they have some unfulfilled thing in their childhood where they felt like nobody understood them. I think a lot of creatives can relate to that –- that feeling to put something out in the world to be understood deeper. Like, "I don't just want you to enjoy this, I want you to see it and then get me more so that I feel more seen as a person," and that driving Poppy and Ian into the creative space.
So I think, as a whole, it's all about the creativity and ego, and how ego plays into it. But as far as them relating to each other, I mean, maybe. Sometimes we surprise ourselves where, at the end, we're like, "Oh, it was all kind of about one thing. We didn't realize that."
'It's just like a cool little puzzle'
I think one throughline that I've noticed with all of those one-offs is that they're about how memory and emotion gets channeled into creation, right? It's not as clear-cut as something just happening at the workplace. And I got to ask some of the actresses as well, but I was curious, do you have your own version of Ian's game from this episode, something that inspired you in a way like that?
Oh, yeah. Well, mine is my dad. My dad was really funny, and he introduced me to the Marx Brothers, and he showed me "SNL" for the first time, and he got me really interested in comedy. And he passed away when I was young, and I think a huge major motivator in my life is just feeling like my connection to comedy is kind of a connection to my father in some way. So, that's driving me. I've done a lot of therapy to unpack it.
But yeah. I think, definitely, that thing to be understood, to be seen, I think that was a special connection I had with him, and it made me feel very seen for when I would write something funny and he would like it. It felt like a special little bond that we had. So I think a lot of my writing has always been chasing that bond. Yeah.
Yeah. That makes sense. Thanks for sharing that.
Of course.
I guess my only other question is just if you have anything you could say [about "Mere Mortals"], but I know it's early stages.
Yeah, it's really early stages. All I can say is that it's going to be run by three of our best writers from the "Mythic Quest" room. And they are so instrumental to what has made "Mythic Quest" good up until now. So, I'm really excited to see where they take this show. Doing a spin-off, we want it to have a lot of interplay with "Mythic Quest" so that it's like if you watch both shows, you have a deeper understanding of both because you're seeing the ways that one affects the other. And I think it's just like a cool little puzzle we'll get to do for the next few ... well, hopefully, a few seasons!
"Mythic Quest" is now streaming on Apple TV+, with new episodes each Friday.