Lan Pitts for Comic Book Yeti: Hey, Robert. Hope things are going well for you over there.
Robert Kirkman: So far, so good.
CBY: So, this is the first animated version of Invincible, but we still have the movie hopefully coming out and the motion comic. But why do you think it took so long to finally make it to an animated series like this?
Robert Kirkman: Well, I think that...you have to find the right partner. You have to find the right studio that's interested in making this. And that took a little bit of time. But I think that, while it did take much longer to adapt this than it did The Walking Dead, I think that it's happening at the exact right time.
I think that superhero movies and TV shows have grown to the point where there's just a vernacular that the audience is really well versed in that is going to allow us to subvert those tropes in Invincible, the animated series, the way that we were able to in the comics.
"If this had happened 10, 15 years ago, there wouldn't have been enough movies and television shows to hit that critical mass to where the audience is primed for something like Invincible..."
I think that to have an audience that is really well-versed in superheroes makes you experience the Invincible story in a heightened way. If this had happened 10, 15 years ago, there wouldn't have been enough movies and television shows to hit that critical mass to where the audience is primed for something like Invincible, that gives you everything that you get from cool superhero stories, but adds something a little different to the mix and tries to break some new ground along the way here and there.
So I think that we're in the exact right place, and I'm glad we made it.
CBY: [to Jacobs & Beetz] Both of you do acting and voice acting, directing, and even podcasting. I was a big fan of Blood Ties, but what's next for both of you to try...the next frontier for both of you to explore?
Gillian Jacobs: I have a new, unscripted podcast called "If/Then." Three episodes are out now, so I've been working on that for the last few months, and that's really fun! I'm getting to interview people, so the tables have turned, and I really enjoy doing that. And directing documentaries, I've been doing more of that in the last couple of years.
Zazie Beetz: For me, I've been getting more into producing and having my creative hands all over a project. I think sometimes I come into a film as an actor and my only goal is to not mess up what somebody has been working on for 10 years. And so, it's been very creatively satisfying to be able to really get in there, in the nascent stages of something, and to really shape a story. And I would love to direct maybe in 10 years, but I don't think I'm there yet –just not emotionally. But while producing and putting the world together and getting a team together has been out of my comfort zone, it's been an interesting thing that I want to continue doing and grow in.
Invincible premieres March 26, on Amazon Prime Video.