Amphibia: Matt Braly Talks Season 3, New Shoes, and That Wild Season 2 Finale

On the Season 2 Finale and Content Warnings

ComicBook.com: I have to ask what happened with that Season 2 finale, the delay and all of that, the leak -- what went on?

Matt Braly: Yeah, so I can't get into it, unfortunately, but there was a last-minute content concern and there was a lot of discussion about what to do. And we eventually did arrive at a solution, which was the disclaimer and releasing the Season 3 main titles at the backend, which was good because it ended up being a wonderful promotional piece that sort of was a nice button on the end of the season. So I'm happy that things were resolved and that it came out and people loved the episode.

How does it feel to be, I believe, the only Disney Channel show with a content warning?

It's so funny when I got into this business, it's not what I was ever expecting to be known for. I will say, I guess I do have a little bit of pride knowing that that thing is slapped on there at the front. It's just kind of a funny little bit of history, and it's so funny because it's also on Disney+, so yeah, it just lives there. And it's such a funny, surreal thing because like the voice actor for Sprig, Justin Felbinger, who I love, he actually recorded it. And it's such a little surreal piece where he's like, "Hey kids, oh man, this one, it's a little intense, but like enjoy." So like, I don't know. It's all just part of kind of like now the history of the show, you know what I mean? And I will say, I am a little proud of it.

On Super Anne

Speaking of that finale, Super Anne, so cool. The animation of her fight, that was the Small-Buteras, right?

Yes, yes. Lindsey and Alex and they're amazing. I've been such fans of theirs. They're responsible for Baman Piderman. And they've always been such great friends and supporters of the show and like getting them to animate that action sequence was like a career highlight and I'm so happy with how it turned out. It really, like, you can tell, like, "I think the animation got better" watching it.

Yeah. It's that classic--like when Steven Universe would bring in like Takafumi Hori, you'd be like, "oh, I see what you did there."

Oh my God. Yes. I love that stuff.

On What Season 3 Has in Store

Let's talk Season 3. Now obviously Season 3 has yet to air, but it's coming up very soon. What can you tell us about it?

Well, what I can say is that it's going to be super exciting to see the Plantars, Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly all stuck in LA having to kind of like wear disguises and hide that they're walking, talking frogs. And in addition, people can look forward to Anne sort of reaffirming and investigating her relationship with her parents.

On Animating During COVID

Now, when we spoke before Season 2, I believe we were already in quarantine times. And so I had asked you, I was like, "So where were things at this point?" This first episode, that quarantine song, how cathartic was that?

You know, it's so crazy. Would you believe that that script, "ah, wouldn't it be funny if they were all stuck in quarantine?" That got written, like, just like a couple of weeks before, like everything hit the fan, you know what I mean? And it was so surreal because like, I remember we were doing the table read and we were like, "this hits different," you know what I mean? Like, so, yeah. And as we kind of like went through production, our composer, TJ Hill, he came up with this great quarantine song and we were like, "yeah, yeah, let's do it. Let's lean in. We might as well." And like even Sprig's design, you've seen him in the trailer, in future episodes, he wears a little face mask, you know what I mean? And it's like, we had no idea--like that artwork was done pre-COVID and we have no idea this guy was going to be running around with like COVID protection.

ANNE HAS TWO SHOES

I do think congratulations are in order because Anne has two shoes.

Yes. Huge deal.

How does it feel to have that part of your life behind you? Was it a big adjustment for the crew?

It's such a funny thing because at a certain point, there is like, you have a relationship with a fan base. And I feel like at a certain point, I did love this idea that I was throwing them a little bit with the shoe thing, because like I could tell it just bothered so many people that she had one shoe, but it just delighted me that it was like, I was like, "Oh, really? Does it really bother you that much?" So like her getting two shoes was kind of like my gift to everyone who's upset, but I could have done it. I could have had her kick another shoe off and had her walk around LA with one shoe. I thought about it.

On Frobo

The big question, ever since the poster, the key art reveal, people want to know Matt: Frobo, when, where, how, why?

Yeah. So Frobo is someone who like, I have a lot of guilt for like what happened to him in the Season 2 finale. So he was absolutely like at the top of my list to kind of be rebuilt or resurrected, like he was just such a sweet little like baby robot guy. And like I do think that people are going to be really happy with where he ends up in Season 3, because he goes through like a few transformations. I'll just say that. It'll be fun.

On Rebecca Sugar and Music

Fair enough. I mentioned Steven Universe earlier, but actually this season, you folks are going to have a song written by Rebecca Sugar for the Christmas special. How did that come about?

Well, so I'm a huge fan of Rebecca's. I've always loved their stuff and their music. And I actually worked on Steven Universe for a board rotation in Season 1 days, which was amazing. I had a great time. And I have been such a fan of the music for so long and because we were friends and I knew them, I really, really, really wanted this. You know what I mean? Like I just, I think that Rebecca's music is some of the best out there. And I feel like Rebecca really showed us that like, "Oh, cartoon-original music can be like soulful and beautiful." It doesn't have to be like, I don't know, as commercial, do you know what I mean? As like... song of the week kind of shows, I'm trying to think of an example, but like, I really just love their work. Super excited to have Rebecca do a song for us for our Christmas special. And I think it turned out really amazing. It's sort of been stuck in my head and the crew's head for like months and months and months now.

Right. Those songs can absolutely serve the purpose that they would normally for any show that has a song, but they can also be extremely meaningful.

Yeah. And there's also a lot of crossover. We have quite a few crew members who came from Steven. So we've got some Steven DNA. So it felt right.

On Season 3 Guest Stars

The guest list this time isn't as wild as Season 2--obviously, no Kermit the Frog on here--but it is full of some big names. What can you tell us about working with some of these people, maybe the kind of characters they're coming in as?

So there are some real crazy like guest stars in this season that like, I still can't believe we got, like, the biggest of course is, RuPaul for me, and surreal as well because my wife and I watch like so much RuPaul's Drag Race like in quarantine, just hours and hours and hours of it. And so the idea of like going to work and getting to record Ru was like pretty amazing, pretty amazing experience. And Ru's character plays a pretty big role in Season 3, so please look forward to that.

But the character that Whoopi Goldberg plays. And again, Whoopi's like, that's legendary right there. And working with her was incredible. The character that she plays is one of my favorites. You won't see them for a little bit, but please look forward to it. There's some really great performances in here. Oh, Wayne Knight. I love Wayne Knight. And I was so delighted that like he was able to join us for this season. I mean, Dennis Nedry is so iconic and so like "meme"-y a little bit, but like, I have to say that there was no nicer person to work with.

On Season 3 and Third Acts

Now, when we talked previously, you wouldn't talk about whether there was the potential for more seasons, but you did describe Amphibia as envisioned as a three-act sort of thing. Is Season 3 that third act you were referring to?

So I can't really get too much into it, I'm sorry, but I will say that, what I said still stands and the idea that they would return to LA and get back to Anne's roots and that like this giant status quo was always planned. When you get these seasons picked up, you always hope and pray that you'll get enough to tell the story you want to tell, you know what I mean? And so I'm so grateful and happy that we've gotten to this point where we do get to tell this part of the story where these poor frogs are now stuck in LA.

On the Wait for the Premiere

I'm sure you've spent all day talking to various people or at least all week, but it hasn't come out yet. What's the feeling right now? How are you feeling about the show?

Oh, it's so interesting because like my feeling on the show is always like, "You won't understand everything until you've seen the whole season." You know what I mean? So like I read feedback all the time where I'm like, "ah, just wait, just wait." You know what I mean? Like, I can't tell you how many comments I've read where like, "Well, I hope this happens and I hope this happens." And like, I never want to be like, "It do," but like, I just want to be like, "I think you're going to be very happy when you see the entire piece," you know what I mean?

But I will say I'm very excited for people to see "The New Normal." I'm very proud of the work that the team and I have done on that episode. I think it was a very challenging one coming off of "True Colors" because tonally, we need to get back to a home base. Right? And that's very, very tricky to kind of get humor back into the equation because you want to be still respectful of what has happened. Right? So that was a big challenge. But I think by the time you see the end credits of "The New Normal," you feel a little bit, you feel comfortable, you know what I mean? You're like, they've reset sort of the status quo in a meaningful way.

On the End Credits

Since you brought up the credits, who was responsible for that? Those are great.

They're beautiful, right? And like, I love them so much because they're like a complete reversal to what you would expect where it's like, we've always had cooldowns for our credits, but this one's like, "OOOOohh," you know what I mean? Like we're rising up. So the end credits were animated by one of our amazing directors named Jenn Strickland. Incredible, incredible artist and animator. And I'm so glad that Jenn got to do this for the show because it's a stunner. I really liked that piece.

Final Thoughts

Is there anything else that you would like to say about Season 3, about Amphibia, about anything at all, really?

Really I just want to say I'm so grateful to everyone that supports the show, the fans of the show are just absolutely lovely. Every little bit of fan art, every little bit of fan fiction, and every little bit of speculation, it really has kept us going. You know what I mean? Throughout these difficult times and that stuff means a lot to us so thank you.