I spoke with Scott Pilgrim Takes Off showrunners Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski at New York Comic Con 2023 to discuss the new Netflix series, based on O’Malley’s series of manga books and the film adaptation directed by Edgar Wright. But if you think you know this story, O’Malley and Grabinski intend to do something new.
“The way people understand stories now is much more sophisticated,” O’Malley tells me. “So I think we can kind of play with memes, play a bit with people’s expectations and have fun with all that stuff, make it a part of the world of Scott Pilgrim now.”
“We were just trying to find some ways to expand the story and spend more time with all the supporting characters,” Grabinski says. “And we were completely on the same page about what the best version of the show would be, so we just jumped into the deep end from there.”
“For me, the biggest reason to do this show was to spend more time with the exes and more time with Ramona. The thing about the original version of the story, I just wish I got just a little bit more with each of the exes. I kinda wish some of these characters that never got to share scenes with each other would get to. And that was the thing that Bryan and I were so excited about. For new viewers and fans of the thing, there’s people that you never thought would be in the same room, or mad at each other, or love each other — we’re trying to create a lot of new, fun dynamics.” Grabinski says.
“I always liked Ramona,” O’Malley says. “And in the movie, because it’s so Scott’s story, we don’t get to explore quite as much about Ramona, and Ramona’s backstory, and Ramona’s motivations. But even in the books, I didn’t go as far as I could, I think. So that really appealed to me, to get to write more of Ramona, like her relationships with everyone else outside Scott.”
“I wanted to do more with all the exes. But I’m really excited with how we got to do more with Matthew in particular in this series. He gets one more time in the sun, which is really fun,” O’Malley says.
I asked Bryan O’Malley about the way the episodes I was given access to seemed to engage in the larger, ongoing conversation surrounding Scott Pilgrim over the years. “When I started the books, I didn’t have fans. I didn’t have anything. No one was reading it. So even that element of just knowing people are going to watch the show kinda colors it. And then obviously know that the actors exist, Edgar’s movie exists, all that stuff — I go on the internet. I know people out there talk about stuff. So it also just felt like people engage with me in a whole different way now,” O’Malley explained.
“It doesn’t make any sense at all,” Grabinski says of the almost unprecedented situation where they were able to bring back the entire cast of Edgar Wright’s film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World to reprise their roles in the animated series. “I was just really lucky that everyone had such a good time making the movie. Edgar did a perfect job. I think it’s one of the best ensembles, like, in movie history.”
Although now that so many of the actors have become mega stars since Wright’s film, it made scheduling tricky. “Kieran [Culkin] can’t be on the set of Succession and be like, guys, I’m going to leave because I’m going to record Scott Pilgrim. They just don’t let you do that,” Grabinski says.
“Bryan and I are just of the preference that anytime fans can get something new is good; that’s our preference. Anytime you can get something new with a character, something unexpected, expand the world a bit, that’s just our approach. We just hope any time there’s something of Scott, it can just add more to the mix.”
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off premieres November 17 on Netflix.
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