Rob McElhenney Welcomed Apple’s Pushback in the Creative Process for ‘Mythic Quest’

Apple is set to launch its next big comedy series, Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, on Feb. 7, and according to series creator and star Rob McElhenney, it was actually Apple’s involvement in the creative process that is largely responsible for making it the success that he believes it will become.

In an interview with Variety, McElhenney, who is best known for his work on the long-running comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, shared some generally positive insights about Apple’s involvement in both the marketing and creative processes for the new series.

In stark contrast to reports last year from some Hollywood producers who felt that Apple was difficult to deal with, McElhenney said that the company was actually “really helpful” in the creative process to the show. He compared working with Apple to his experience in working with FX, saying that it readily pushed back on any aspects of the show that it felt strongly about, but in the end would still ultimately defer to McElhenney and his team of producers and writers.

According to McElhenney, this was crucial to the creative process, since he feels it’s necessary to be challenged in order to stimulate better ideas and more creativity.

Deference would assume we always know what we’re doing and when we walk into the room everyone should just be quiet. That is dangerous because then you have no opposition, and it doesn’t make for the best process.

Rob McElhenney

Working Out The Kinks

While the initial launch of Apple TV+ last March had left some Hollywood industry insiders questioning whether Apple had figured out how to launch and market shows, by the time the company formally announced a launch date in September, it seemed that it had found its footing. Matt Cherniss, Apple’s head of development, told Variety that Apple’s campaigns have generally been strong, and that producers have been “really happy with the launches of their shows.”

While that perspective comes from within Apple’s executive team, of course, McElhenney generally agreed with this assessment, saying that Apple is being very responsive and proactive in working out any problems it’s had in the marketing approach for its new shows.

“They’re working out some kinks — but it seems like they have been worked out, at least a few of them. I know that getting episodes out to critics was a little tricky, but that’s been ameliorated. Any time we’ve called and said we have an issue, it’s all hands on deck and they fix the issue and we move forward.

Rob McElhenney

Mythic Quest actually has a somewhat high bar to set, since it will be the first straightforward comedy to arrive on Apple TV+; while Dickinson has come the closest, it’s more of a quirky and slightly dark comedy-drama. By contrast, Mythic Quest aims to borrow its creative roots from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia while adopting the “mockumentary” style of hits like The Office and Modern Family.

This isn’t a big surprise, considering the pedigree of the creative team behind the new show, which not only includes McElhenney, but also “Sunny” co-creator Charlie Day along with “Sunny” write and executive producer Megan Ganz, who has also written for Modern Family, The Last Man on Earth, and Community.

However, despite the team’s long involvement with “Sunny”, both McElhenney and Ganz promise that Mythic Quest will be quite different. For one thing, the characters on “Sunny” are “awful people that no one is meant to relate to in a real way” and are only together because of their collective failings as human beings. By contrast, the characters on Mythic Quest are pulled together because of their success, and are written in such a way that the audience will actually care about them.

The Birth of a Series

Mythic Quest actually began its life as a pitch by game development studio Ubisoft to write a series set in the video game industry. While McElhenney says that he was initially lukewarm toward the idea, he found inspiration after being invited to visit Ubisoft’s Montreal headquarters, where he met a creative director for one of Ubisoft’s games who very dramatically described his job as “creating worlds.” This excited McElhenney so much that he immediately called up Day and told him, “We have to do a show about this because it is amazing.”

Rob is an incredible creator. It’s really rare to find someone who can be a showrunner, a head writer and the star of the show. He is that unique kind of talent. [Mythic Quest] was really a combination of humor, smart social commentary, great characters and some surprising heart. That made us feel like it was a great show to have on our service.

Matt Cherniss, head of U.S. programming, Apple TV+

While entirely a comedy, Variety notes that Mythic Quest will still strive for authenticity in depicting the gaming industry, including the fact that it’s traditionally been dominated by men who can be somewhat narcissistic and self-absorbed in crafting their own worlds. In addition to McElhenney, who will play the lead as creative director Ian Grimm — by all accounts a brilliant but raging egomaniac — the series also includes Australian actor Charlotte Nicdao as Poppy, the game’s brilliant female lead programmer, as well as Oscar-winning actor F. Murray Abraham, who stars as the game’s head writer — a former literary giant who has never actually played the game. Other stars include David Horsnby, Ashly Burch, and Jessie Ennis.

While the series was first unveiled by Ubisoft last spring, Apple has now also shared its own official trailer for the show on its Apple TV+ channel.

Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet will make its debut on Apple TV+ on Feb. 7, with all nine first-season epodes dropping at once, and it’s already been renewed for a second season.