Cookie family and you can look like Cobra Stallone, hover cars? I’m down!- Olan Rogers
Final Space is an animated science-fiction series that you must watch now. Absolutely right now. Zoom on over to HBO Max or your preferred streaming service, hunker down with a platter of chocolate cookies, and prepare to be entertained. You will be sitting for awhile since there are now three seasons to binge!
We are so proud of this series as we had interviewed them not just once but twice! It has been an absolute delicious pleasure to watch Gary (voiced by Olan Rogers) escape from prison and just cause absolute cosmic chaos.
As the third season streams on, we were able to have a chat with Olan Rogers. Rogers is the mad mastermind behind Final Space. The show started off as a ten-episode YouTube series which caught the eye of Conan O’Brien. From there, it was a seemingly quick step to TBS and we are now gifted with this gorgeous animated series.
Entering into Season Three, Gary and the crew enter the actual Final Space to rescue Quinn. Except now they are trapped there, and everything becomes about survival. At the same time, they are still being pursued by Invictus and the Lord Commander, who are still determined to capture the adorable Mooncake and use him to grow even more powerful. Their only hope is to team up with earth’s only living survivor to find a way out before it’s all too late.
With the interview, we speak with Olan on the fun troubles of working on the show during lockdown, mental health, and how he would be more than happy to have his own cookie family.
[Audio Transcript]:
Toni A: Hello Olan! Can’t believe it….Season 3 ..my mind is blown! Completely! How are your feelings about this whole thing?!
Olan Rogers: I’m feeling good! This is our best season yet and it’s definitely taken all of the good things from season one and season two and basically threw it to season three. Just the fact that we got to make it at home was even more weird and strange. Bur we did it!
TA: I was wondering about the timeline of Season Three. How much of it was produced at home?
OR: We got hit when we started recording right around the third episode. So kind of having to figure out microphones to people, had to build this booth behind me…I had to get a microphone. I know too much about audio engineering now but pretty much everyone had to be their own audio engineers, recording in their closets, it was madness! Yeah, it was crazy.
TA: Wow…Season One and Season Two. I actually went back and watched Season TWO…I forgot how crazy bizarre you guys went. Even just by episode 6, I forget which episode, it was the one they were marking their -territory by peel everywhere-
OR: – OH yeah
TA: -I forgot about that and I was eating! I laughed way too hard on that one! Just for funsies, how would Gary describe the past two seasons?
OR: Oh man…that’s hard! The first one felt very dramatic, like a cinematic movie, he would love THAT. I think the second one…he would….ugh…be grossed out by the pissing scene a little bit…
TA: You guys went so all out with the grossness and the ripping of limbs…
OR: That season, we got a lot of notes from the network to make it funnier. they wanted more standalone. they wanted it to go right next to American Dad. And we did it…we attempted to do it…and it took the show in a weird…area, for sure.
TA: Season One was like “ here we are…we are not Rick and Morty” and Season Two felt like a cathartic release of energy. Am I close to that?
OR: Yeah! I felt like it was kind of making sure that we made this compelling story and at the same time, hit all the notes. We wanted to be good partners and we attempted to do it.
We got to do some things that we wanted to do, some were sacrifices but I still think it turned out great. I think that Season Three is even better. It’s a really good season
TA: Judging from the trailer alone, I had to watch it seven million times and one of the things that made me happy was Avocato. I’m very happy about that! Although, knowing your story style, I’m suspicious a little bit… but I’m excited! It looks amazing, beyond amazing. I don’t know what to expect but I’m probably not going to be eating, lesson learned.
So ..question about Season Two to get revved up for Season 3, what was up with the Kenny Loggins? Is there a story behind it?
OR: I have a video on my Youtube channel called “The Popcorn King.” It was a throwback to that. I love Footloose and that song…you just can’t help but dance to it. I dunno, something about Kenny Loggins.
TA: One of my favorite episodes is the Happy Dreams planet, where they farm humans for dream. What would be your happy dream for them to harvest from?
OR: Probably not too far off from Gary. Cookie family and you can look like Cobra Stallone, hover cars? I’m down!
TA: The aesthetic of that video was off the chars. I’m still surprised that you don’t have a recipe for cookie at this point…
OR: You would think we would actually invest the time and energy for a Final Space cookie but we just have not done that. But any type of cookie Gary is down for
TA: We’re at Season Three, why does the group follow Gary?
OR: He’s not necessarily the leader that you think you would want but he’s the leader that would keep everybody together. He’s so earnest in how he treats everybody, he loves everybody so much . Everybody else has issues with people and stuff but he keeps them together. It’s why I think they like him. I don’t think there’s a designated “leader” but it’s between the three of them: Avocato, Quinn, and Gary. I think it’s kind of like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. So I don’t think that there’s necessary a leader, but he’s a part of keeping them together.
TA: Would you follow Gary?
OR: Oh yea, I would follow Gary! Heck yeah! He knows how to have fun, he’s emotional, he has the whole package!
TA: You give some great content on Youtube. We see a lot of you in Gary, where we see the POV in the first season. You also speak a lot about you mental health. How are you doing mentally?
OR: I’m doing good. Obviously the pandemic hit everybody at a weird point in time. Everybody thought three weeks, I don’t know why. Everybody goes through certain things at certain times. For me, life slowed down so much, that I’ve been going so fast, I was able to process things that I had thought, “I’ll address that later.” One of them was the tornado that hit my shop, my dog killing my cat… there was a lot of different things that resurfaced. I mean right now, I’m doing good. It’s all a part of finally dealing with that stuff and constantly moving forward
TA: In what you were processing, will we see any of that manifest in Season 3?
OR: There is definitely a lot of emotion in this season, raw emotion too. Even with the voice of Avocato, we had to stop, he was just crying because it was an emotional scene. Everyone deals with stuff and they release it in this season. Everyone pours themselves out in this show because it was an outlet. What do we do? what are we doing here? But they finally found their outlet and it was this show. They all just poured themselves into it. Coty, I remember, he was going through some stuff. We were recording an emotional episode with me and him back and forth. And I remember there was a moment that he needed a minute to collect himself. He was like, “dude, I’m glad we’re friends.” And it was kind of like a weird moment where we just hugged it out and he went on his way. It’s kind of a thing where we are able to process that information in a positive, meaningful way.
TA: Just meeting you guys a few years ago, I know that you were really bonded. So I can only imagine how three years later, you guys are closer. The thing that hit me the most in the second season was that there seemed to be this overall theme of loneliness. Judging from Season 3, it looks like it’s about self-doubt?
OR: Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of that. Season One and Season Two dealt a lot with the loneliness and that’s kind of an overall theme in the show. I think the third season really dives into whether or not Gary can keep these people together and if they can survive this thing. The stakes get so high in this third season, it kind of just all collapses around them. So there is definitely a lot of self-doubt. For sure, 100%.
TA: One second you guys are peeing everywhere [gross] and the next second, you deliver the most heart wrenching moment ever. In the same episode sometimes! How do you find that balance between those two ?
OR: Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you won’t. Sometimes that same moment may not hit in that way but for some people, it’s perfect. I think that’s great that everybody can have their own way in looking at a scene and say “wow, that really connected with me in a meaningful way.” But the balance of it all is letting those moments breathe a little bit and realizing that you can still have fun as well. I think with most characters, if you can cry and laugh with them, then you get to know them so much quicker. That’s what we try to do in the show. You see every range of emotion with these characters. So I think that’s part of the balance. Knowing that it’s not one or the other, you can do both.
TA: Given that we’re all mostly lockdown, how did you find the motivation to keep going on?
OR: Part of it was, in the back of my brain, that I wanted to make sure that everyone had a job. I know that a lot of people were losing their job. If I stumbled or stopped, and said I couldn’t do something, then a lot of people would be out of work. I didn’t want that. That was a big motivation for me for a long, long time for the show, until we got a firm ground and we were like “we’re still good.” A lot of shows were stopping production and luckily we were still able to keep going. And that a huge, huge, amazing thing. That was one of the big things, just making sure that everyone had a job.
TA: One thing that I though was awesome, was how international it became! I know that you were in Germany, which is so awesome. What are your thoughts on that? Your international craziness fame!
OR: I did not expect that at all! I did not really know that it had done so well overseas until really like, last year. Where it was kind of like a hit in France. I was like “Why?!” It’s like a big hit in France apparently! Obviously Germany. And Spain, it’s doing really well. I do think it’s because Netflix is such easy access, that it was such as easy watch for them. They just digested in a binge able fashion. So I think that’s why I think it did so well over there. They were getting to see it in its complete form. Where, over here, everyone is dissecting episode by episode. Then when they finally get to the episode where they understand everything that is going on, “wait, oh wait, maybe I’ve been too hard on this thing.” I think it’s amazing, it’s awesome that people are really connecting with it.
TA: Something that you spoke about in a documentary on Youtube, you mentioned that everyone has to shield themselves from anxiety. You mentioned that you had to work through everything, you were your own Three years down the line, are you still your own biggest ally? What keeps you going.
OR: There are moments where you have your own self-doubt and that’s a normal human thing. If you’re not doubting yourself, then you have way too much confidence! A little bit of doubt is good! You don’t want to be too confident. I’m still my biggest alley in the sense that I know what I’m capable of, I know what I can do, I know that if somethings good, I know it now. I’m starting to get to that point. Like, no this is good. You should be proud of this, like don’t get upset about this. I think it’s definitely about trying to be your biggest alley. For sure, 100%.
TA: I’m so glad you said that. You’re one of the strongest creators I know, being really honest about your feelings helps a lot of fans. So I think it gives more meaning to the show I really thank you personally for the honesty that you give out.
I love all the voice acting cameos. Jane Lynch is amazing as the ship…who else would it be?!Will we get to see any surprising voice acting in Season three that you can divulge?
OR: It was definitely difficult casting this year ‘cause we got hit right at that time. And so, unfortunately, a lot of the casting choices that we wanted to do, did not have a recording studio. We didn’t get to cast the people that we really wanted but we used a lot of our in-show talent like Tom Kenny and stuff like that. Probably not in the same way that Season two did it or Season One but there’s definitely a few people that popped up in a meaningful way.
TA: Now the ones that did not have recording studios, I’m assuming you reached out to them. Do you think they will want to work with you later on?
OR: I’m pretty positive. Hopefully it’s essentially when things just get back to normal,…
TA: I’m really just hoping for Season Four…I just want the show to keep going
OR: …me too!me too!
TA: Do you ever look back on the episodes and they hold a different meaning now
OR: Randomly, I walked in on my wife watching it on HBO Max. She was like, ”I just gotta support the show!” I got to see a few glimpses of it and it’s so weird just sitting there and just start picking apart threads, you know? Like man, I wish I would have done that differently or that. But then there are some really poignant episodes that during the production, I was like “wow, I wonder what I was going through at that moment…” It’s hitting a bit differently today. It’s impossible not to look back on it and view it in a different lens.
TA: I know that in Season 2 that you were throwing in a lot of sci-fi and anime…[I saw that Dragonball Z thing in the background, I saw it!]…are we going to see a little bit more of that? Are you going to be a bit more sneakier with the references with Season 3?
OR: In Season three, there will be more references. Although I’m scratching my heard on what references…I think there are a couple that are really fun. There is one that I’m thinking about that made me laugh.
TA: What are your current reads and listens, for funsies?
OR: Right now, I’m listening to a lot of soundtrack music because I’m trying to edit this little trailer for The Lion’s Blaze. As far as reads go, staying up on news and boring stuff. I’ve been so busy with the show that I haven’t had a chance to dive into some reads.
TA: You need something monotone to balance out the crazy that you’re about to give us?
OR: Anything you would like to mention to fans who have not experience FINAL SPACE to check it out now?
TA: Look, it’s really fun show. Not a hard entry point to it. It’s really thrilling and it’ll hit you with some emotion, hit with some laughs, hit you with some actions, it’s a lot of fun. And.. give it a watch! What’s the worst that can happen?! You won’t like it!
