Sweet Tooth Producers Reveal the Secrets of Breakout Star Bobby the Gopher

Netflix’s series adaptation of the DC comic series Sweet Tooth was met with rave reviews upon its release, and even though the streamer got in a bit of hot water for one ill-advised promotion for the show and its hybrid children, they’re still a big selling point for many viewers. The titular Sweet Tooth is a half-deer, half-boy hybrid and Naledi Murray’s Wendy a half-pig, half-girl that have quickly become fan favorites. There is one that seemingly shines above all though, Bobby the Gopher Boy, who is precious and has never done anything wrong in his life. We got the chance to speak with the creators of Sweet Tooth recently and they revealed the secrets of bringing Bobby to life.

“First I need to thank to Nick Damici, my writing partner, who years ago I was like, ‘How are we going to create this character?’ And he was like, ‘Just go full ET, man, just go full Gizmo,’” series executive producer Jim Mickle said. “And it kind of started as a joke really. And then next thing you know, they’re designing it. So that was Fractured FX, Justin Raleigh, our effects company. And they just went full animatronics and we really embraced that idea of when you look at Gremlins and you look at that kind of stuff, always having to hop out of a hole or block a scene around a puppet. It was a challenge, but it was really fun. I’m psyched to see people respond though.”

Though Bobby may only have enough lines to count on both hands throughout the eight episodes of the first season, it still required two different persons to give him life through vocals.

“It’s actually two different actors,” Mickle said. “One is named Lilly and I think she’s 13 or 14 years old. And then she goes into the booth and she watches and she just makes crazy Ewok sounds for like an hour. And then that gets edited in. And another one is one of our voiceover artists, one of our Loop Group artists.”

Kevin Kirkpatrick of Fractured Fx offered some more details on Instagram, revealing that operating Bobby required five and sometimes six persons to allow him to move on camera. Some behind-the-scenes photos of him in action can be found above.

We also spoke with star Christian Convery about Bobby, since his character Gus and the Bobby become great friends in the comic book series, and he revealed to us how he reacted upon meeting the little puppet forthe first time.

“Hopefully I can be best friends with Bobby later in the seasons, hopefully…. Bobby, he’s so cute, and when he just waddles around the set… He’s actually a remote-controlled character, so that’s pretty cool to see that on screen. And the first time I saw Bobby, let me tell you this, I screamed because he was so cute, and then I picked up the remote control and then I could walk him, and it was so fun just to play around with Bobby and just to make him walk, and to jump, and to run.”

Fingers crossed we get to see that friendship blossom on screen.

Season one of Sweet Tooth is now streaming on Netflix.