Tara Hernandez: What we can talk about beyond plot is the experience we want people to have while watching it. We want viewers, as we say, to have lift and enjoy talking about it with their friends. We think it’s something people can come to and want to text family members and talk about. We love the watercolor nature of a mystery show. Once you see the trailer you’ll star understanding the tone and what we want you to feel when enveloped in this world. Have a good time! It’s ok to laugh.
Damon Lindelof: I’m always interested in straining the boundaries of what we consider to be science fiction. By definition, science fiction is anything made up that involves science. But at the core of the genre is a way of dealing with anxieties that we have about the world through storytelling. In the 1950s, sci-fi might have been Invasion of the Body Snatchers because we’re worried about communism. Or the fundamental sci-fi story, which is also a horror story, of Frankenstein. It all comes back to this same idea of “what should we be creating as human beings?” The best science fiction stories are always “be careful what you wish for.” It’s Rod Serling 101, which is you thought that you needed this thing but now that you’ve made it, you’re doomed. Before we were talking about Mrs. Davis, we were feeling this real anxiety about technology. This idea of we need it, we love it, but we think we’re using it too much. And we think we’re using it for the wrong stuff. Is there a way to talk about this in a slightly goofier way? And to embody it in a story around a nun who is told to go find the Holy Grail and if she is successful she is able to defeat the A.I. She could be our avatar or superhero.
Speaking of the tone, your star Betty Gilpin described the show to us as “No Country for Old Looney Tunes.” Do you concur with that estimation?
TH: Betty said it, so yes. There is sort of this strong connotation in that of the Western spirit. Any adventure or adventurer has that frontiersman energy, which Simone certainly does. The Looney Tunes references are specifically very prominent in the pilot. I think that will come through. It’s OK to have touchstone references for this. You’re going to see a giant net that’s meant to catch a “wabbit.” It’s all very inentional. It’s ok to be like “do they know what they’re doing?” Yes, we absolutely embrace it.
DL: It’s impossible to do the Coen Brothers because it always feels like a hollow ripoff. That said, a movie like No Country for Old Men has horrifying violence intermingled with ridiculous comedy. It’s not as absurd as [The Big] Lebowski is. But you can put those two movies together and see they were made by the same filmmakers. We do want Mrs. Davis to be a little bit fearless in terms of its tonal shifts. To bring this all back to Betty you need an actor at the center of it all who can say and do absurd things and then pivot into “but this really means something to me.” If people don’t care about the characters in these movies or shows then you’re truly lost.
Will you be involved in the marketing campaign for this? It seems like the kind of thing that would need the creators’ touch to properly explain.
