Oh My God…Yes! Creator Adele Williams Talks Adult Swim Debut, Crafting a Sci-Fi World and More

Oh My God…Yes! A Series of Extremely Relatable Circumstances will be making its debut with Adult Swim this weekend, and we got to talk with the creator behind it all ahead of its premiere. Oh My God…Yes! is one of the most unique new projects coming to Adult Swim as not only does it feature a trio of characters who have not been seen in any of the other projects, but also has a rather distinct voice. Set in a far off future vision of South Central Los Angeles, Oh My God…Yes! mines this for comedy without going the route you’d expect.

Oh My God…Yes! A Series of Extremely Relatable Circumstances officially makes its premiere with Adult Swim on Sunday, March 9th on 12:15am PT/ET with two back to back episodes, so it won’t be too much longer before fans get to see this wild new trio in motion. as they navigate their young lives in a very futuristic world. To celebrate the premiere of the series, ComicBook got the chance to speak with series creator Adele “Supreme” Williams all about it.

Oh My God…Yes! creator Adele “Supreme” Williams opened up about the journey to the series’ premiere with Adult Swim, the sci-fi influences behind this new vision of Los Angeles, having to audition for her role, and much more. Read on below for our full interview (which has been edited for length and clarity).

NICK VALDEZ, COMICBOOK: I’ve been so excited to speak with you because I’ve been so obsessed with Oh My God…Yes! since I’ve gotten to see the episodes. Researching into it, I see that it’s been a very notable journey getting to this point. So I wanted to start by asking you how you feel going from the original Oh My God…Yes! comics to then bringing it to the animated state it is today? How did the process start?

ADELE “SUPREME” WILLIAMS: Before it became a book, a compilation of comics, I would just draw these pictures and throw them up on my Instagram. Once upon a time, I had a more significant following on Instagram, but then deleted it. That’s another story. Everyone in the comment section, well, most people rather, would demand that it be animated. But I was like, “Well, first, let me try to self publish.” I created the book, and while the book was being sold on Amazon, I was also curating exhibits in different parts of The U.S. that would revolve around a specific theme. And that theme would change. So, for example, I’ve had different versions of Oh My God…Yes!

For example, I curated an exhibit rather that was called Oh My God…Yes! A Series of Extremely Disturbing Circumstances. And those disturbing circumstances were the subconscious and still present, lasting effects of slavery on the black community. But they were comics because I’m a writer. I’m a creator who has always enjoyed fusing levity, and darkness. I believe that throwing a layer of of humor over a rather difficult conversation to have helps viewers and consumers metabolize it just a bit easier.

So I enjoyed doing that with these spaces, and I eventually put the comics into one book, and decided to finally, answer my supporters prayers and reach out to an animator. This rather talented, but rather inexpensive animator on freelancer.com. That was a blessing. I would storyboard. He would animate, and I would post him on social media. And the next demand was, “This needs to be a series.” I’m like, “Oh god.”

So I put together a trailer, and I reached out to a colleague of mine who also is now the executive producer on on the series Dominique Braud. She’s been with The Simpsons for about thirty years now. I showed her the trailer. I was just trying to get some advice. I wasn’t trying to network or pitch myself. I was just like, “I’ve never been in the animation space. How do I navigate this?” I showed her the trailer and she was like, “This should be on TV. And if you would have me, I would love to produce it.” And I was like, “Oh, I would be completely honored. The Simpsons is one of my favorite series ever.” She really opened some doors for me, introduced me to a lot of people, and the rest is history.

But it’s giving the people what they want. It’s always affirming when I would fill gallery spaces in New York, in Miami, in LA, and San Francisco. It’s always affirming when large groups will come out and gather to see the work. And I guess TV was just the next step.

It certainly is! It’s interesting to hear you mention that the concept started out as more disturbing circumstances because the future vision of South Central, LA isn’t a downer in the series. I think that was the biggest thing that appealed to me because there’s always some apocalypse or something to build the world on. So when creating this series and the relatable part of it, how did you decide that this was the vision of South Central that you wanted for the future?

I grew up in South Central LA. When I was growing up, most, if not all, films that took place in South Central, did not depict the South Central I knew. It was violent, especially in the nineties. It was violent, but there was also community and fun and play. Gangsters tell knock knock jokes too, you know? When I was growing up, I was someone who consumed nothing but cartoons. Most notably, like Sci-Fi. I always imagined even as a child, what if The Jetsons took place here? And so the goal I was excited to create South Central and color it positively to counter the stereotype that I grew up [around].

I would say in the past, you know, maybe decade, it’s changed. You do have some creators out there such as Issa Rae who have humanized the citizens of South Central and shown just how dimensional and just like everyone else we are. Sans stereotypes, but still remaining true to the culture. So I knew I wanted it to take place where I grew up. I knew I wanted to have a Sci-Fi flare. I love shows like Futurama, and I was excited to honor that.

Well, how are we going to keep this South Central? How are we going to let people know? I said, well, as much as possible, try to honor the geography of the world. One of our directors, Brian, he made a point to even get some of the coordinates of certain landmarks, eateries and liquor stores. In the production rooms, they would do their best to honor that map.

Fingers crossed if we’re given a season two with more of a budget, we want go out and even find a way. Because it’s something we wanted to do this season, but we didn’t have the time. But to kinda make it a bit of a field trip, and go and try to get even more of the mirror to the world, and its aesthetic even more so with a bit of a cyberpunk flare.

That brings me to Sunny, Tulip and Ladi. They’re a very unique main trio for Adult Swim. We don’t really see a lot of that in these shows, especially in the eleven minute animated format too. So how did you find the balance in developing them as a unit to make sure that each of them had something to chew on with each episode?

Each of the characters, Sunny, Ladi, and Tulip, are just a bit of me. They each represent a bit of me. I often get asked, were you inspired by other people? I was inspired by the way I tend to approach matters. So Sunny represents the part of me that is very good at intellectualizing even my bullshit. The part of me that even when I make a bad decision, I can intellectualize it so it sounds like a good one because I’m smart. Sometimes too much for my own good. And Tulip represents the spiritual, compassionate, finding meaning in everything even when there isn’t any part of me. The part of me that’s always willing to give something a second chance even though the red lights and red flags are just like, “Girl, exit stage left.” I’m just like, “No, but there might be something here.”

Ladi represents the part of me that…that gut feeling that I often encourage myself to trust, but I don’t because the Tulip in me is like, “Well, let’s just try it.” The part of me that knows something is some bullshit and will call it out and remain unabashed in that is Ladi. The part of me that was taught how to fight when I was 15, that’s Ladi. The part of me who will cuss you out if you go there with her, that’s Ladi. So being able to think about these episodes and these circumstances, it was I guess it made it relatively easy to imagine how each of them would respond to what’s in front of them.

Because I think we’ve all been able to look at something from several vantage points especially when it comes to making a choice about something. You know? Your friend’s having a birthday party. Your social side wants to go, but, the antisocial part of you doesn’t. I mean, that’s kind of a lame example, but I was able to just blow life into each of those facets of me and imagine an entire person. Ladi is someone that I often wish I was. I wish I was more like Ladi. She’s ten toes down, baby. She’s clear.

It’s also interesting to hear that the three of them have pieces of you in them. You voice Sunny in the show. How did you choose Sunny as the one you would pursue? What was it about Sunny in particular?

I would say, of all the characters, Sunny is the most like me. I had to audition for Sunny. Even though I was the creator of the show, [Adult Swim] was like “Read some lines.” And so the same sides that I wrote, I had to read the sides. I got the job. I think even now, I think it was an excellent choice. Sunny is just chaos in in one, and the mechanic in that one episode, he said she’s walking chaos. She’s walking chaos, and I can be a bit of that sometimes.

And how I wanted her to sound? I think she sounds like me, but I guess there’s a bit more of…I don’t know. One of the first pictures I drew of Sunny, she’s slouched on a couch, topless in her underwear, pubic hair poking out the sides, chugging on a pale ale, bowl of popcorn on her belly with the remote in her hand. She’s just grunge. She’s not a tomboy, but she just don’t give a fuck. So I knew I didn’t want her to sound soft like Tulip. I didn’t want her to sound sweet, and I didn’t want her to sound grungy.

I remember as Cree Summer was directing…because there were times I would be in the booth and she would direct me to keep a line one note. And I said the thing about Sunny is with her being walking chaos. I want the inflections in her voice. I want her to go everywhere you can possibly go in some of these lines. There’s moments where she sings, where her where her lines are very melodic.

There’s times when she’s pitched up, she’s pitched down. Some people may consider it nails on chalkboard. Some people consider it pure music, but I knew I wanted the chaos she embodies to even be reflected in her cadence. So that was something I really had a good time doing. It was just bringing the texture. I think it’s fun. I think her voice juxtaposed with the voice of the other two. I think it adds some good texture and the orchestra of it all.

You’ve touched on this a bit already, but I do have to ask if you get the chance, would you be willing to return for a second season?

Oh, fuck yeah. Oh my gosh. Yes. Oh, there’s so many characters that showed up that I want to bring back. There’s so many characters I want to bring into the world. There’s so many places I want the girls to go. I want nail a silent retreat. I know that’s kind of a trope we’ve seen in other shows and movies, but I want nail a silent retreat in this world. I don’t know what it would look like, but I know we need that. And I think it should be Sunny’s idea unexpectedly.

Oh My God…Yes! A Series of Extremely Relatable Circumstances premieres with Adult Swim on Sunday, March 9th on 12:15am PT/ET and will be available for streaming with Max the next day.