‘Mythic Quest’ Is More Than ‘It’s Always Sunny’ Meets ‘Silicon Valley’ (VIDEO)
Forget Charlie Work. It’s Always Sunny star/creator Rob McElhenney and co-exec producer Megan Ganz have a new side hustle outside of Paddy’s Pub as the collective powers — alongside Sunny‘s Charlie Day — behind Apple TV+’s just-dropped new workplace comedy.
Set within the walls and open workspaces of a video game company, Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet is a savvy, at times even inspired, take on the globally powerful electronic-entertainment industry. The new series spotlights the geniuses who design hit titles and the fandom factions that can often make or break them.
“The industry itself is huge,” McElhenney points out, adding that it “dwarfs” the TV and film business. And because players “are expecting something of large scope,” that leads to content creators “with massive egos,” like McElhenney’s narcissistic Ian Grimm (Ian, of course, is pronounced Eye-an).
Wisely, the show isn’t so inside-baseball that non-gamers will feel lost. Much like Silicon Valley, Billions, Succession and other smart shows set in niche cultures, the comedy here is rooted more in personalities than the particulars of the job. And like the best games, the storyline gets deeper as episodes play out, complete with twists, the introduction of new characters, and even an extension pack… the show was renewed for a second season before the first even arrived.
McElhenney and the hilarious Ganz, a former writer on Modern Family, sat down with us recently to discuss how the project came together and what it means for the future of Sunny.
In addition to revealing the key to capturing the weirdness of the gaming world, he also explained how the cast of characters on MQ, which include Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus), Danny Pudi (who worked with Ganz on Community) and Sunny‘s Rickety Cricket, David Hornsby, aren’t simply cut-and-pastes of the Paddy’s crew of losers transplanted into the tech space. Check it out above!
Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, Season 1, Streaming Now, Apple TV+