One reason why stories with a post-apocalyptic setting are so popular with audiences is that there’s something intriguing about a world in which societal norms are cast aside and communities adapt all-new dynamics, but the drawback is that survival is often the major motivating factor behind everyone’s decision, making for deadly repercussions. The inherent absurdity of a premise, juxtaposed with the more violent and primal parts of humanity, is what makes the sitcom Miracle Workers: End Times so enthralling. Not only are the fictional elements of the series challenging enough to imagine, but star Karan Soni admitted that filming the series came with its own unexpected obstacles. Miracle Workers: End Times premieres on TBS on Monday, July 10th.
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Miracle Workers: End Times is described, “In a post-apocalyptic future, a wasteland warrior (Daniel Radcliffe) and a ruthless warlord (Geraldine Viswanathan) face the most dystopian nightmare of all: settling down in the suburbs. Together they navigate the existential horrors of married life and small-town living, all under the dubious guidance of a wealthy junk trader (Steve Buscemi). Also starring Jon Bass as the couple’s faithful war dog, and Karan Soni as a kill-bot who loves to party. Guest stars this season include, Quinta Brunson (Abbott Elementary), Garcelle Beauvais (Real Housewives of Beverly Hills), Kyle Mooney (Saturday Night Live), Ego Nwodim (Saturday Night Live), Lolly Adefope (Shrill), Paul F. Tompkins (HouseBroken) and Lisa Loeb (Robot Chicken).”
ComicBook.com caught up with Soni to talk the new season, his character’s trajectory, and sharing scenes with himself.
ComicBook.com: Miracle Workers: End Times, it’s a post-apocalyptic scenario, so when it comes to your costars, if you had to cannibalize one of them in a post-apocalyptic scenario, who are you going to cannibalize?
Karan Soni: I think Jon Bass. I feel like his meat would taste the sweetest because he is a sweet, sweet boy, and I feel like he’s such a sweet boy that he would just offer himself up to us. Daniel is just all muscle, so no one wants to eat that. But yeah, I would say Jon Bass.
Would it change your opinion at all to know that Geraldine said she would eat you?
Wow. Listen, I’m good with that. Because I famously — not famously, no one knows this. I feel like if the apocalypse happened, I would just want to not deal with that. I just watched The Last of Us and I was literally, it’s so hard for me to even invest in these things, because I’m like, “There’s no way I would live in this world.” It’s too hard. I would just give up. And so I happily will volunteer myself to be meat first.
I think she was a little nervous that it would be something controversial, but it’s good to know that you’re cosigning.
Oh gosh, yeah. No Walking Dead, none of it for me. I’ll be like, “I’m out. If this is the reality, no thank you.”
Whether it is The Walking Dead, The Last of Us, there’s so much romanticizing of the post-apocalyptic scenario. But Miracle Workers, it does do that and it casually will pepper in these brutal, horrific truths, but then still have a sense of humor about it all. What excited you most about this season when you heard that this was going to be the premise of Season 4?
I felt like there was a minute where they were like, “We might do a space thing,” or there was always a sci-fi element that was discussed, and so I was really excited when it ended up being this. The pitch that they gave us was essentially growing up and moving to the suburbs and deciding to have a family, but in the apocalypse. I just thought that was so interesting, and it definitely felt very different from anything we had done before. That’s always really exciting, because this show is so rare. When do you get to do something this bonkers? It was just like, “Yeah, we should really go for it.”
And when they said it was not just Mad Max, but it was The Matrix and Hunger Games and all of these genres, that was really exciting … We did like a Snowpiercer episode. It’s all so cool. Each one felt like there’s so much material to play off of.
Did you have a particular favorite episode to film or a particular favorite sequence to film, that as you were bringing it to life you were like, “Holy crap, I can’t believe I actually get to do this,”?
There were two. The Matrix one was really fun. I actually got to wear Laurence Fishburne’s original costume from the second movie, I believe, which was very fun, too. And just that whole set, they built this white void and it was really fun to film. It’s such a crazy episode. that was really fun to wear all of that, do all of that.
Then the other one that was really fun, I can’t remember what number it is, but it is one where I end up playing five different versions of myself with Daniel, and we go to the apocalyptic version of an Airbnb, which is a bomb shelter, and there’s five other clones of me. They are on vacation or something. That was really crazy, because I was a fan of shows like Orphan Black and stuff, but I’ve never gotten to do something where you’re in a scene with yourself and other versions of yourself.
It’s a nightmare to film, but it’s very cool as it’s coming together. I’ve only seen bits of it in ADR, but there’s just something so cool about multiple different versions of the same scene, and you really get to use your imagination because you’re acting with yourself, so there’s no one there. that stuff was really fun and technically very fun.
I’ll warn Tatiana Maslany about you.
Respect, because she had to really change hair and makeup, do all this stuff. I got to just be the same but just tweak my personality a little bit. But, my gosh, what an icon for doing that. I did watch some clips again as we were doing it, and I was like … Makes my head hurt. Like, how was this done? It’s actually insane.
It is so funny, because I recently watched Michael Keaton’s Multiplicity, which was groundbreaking at the time.
Oh yeah, I was a fan.
You watch it back and you’re like, “Oh no, his face is rarely in the same shot.” And you can almost see the seam in the frame.
Oh, you can? I almost can’t ruin it, so I don’t want to do that. But yeah, no, it is really crazy. It’s really technical. Then in the finale there’s 100 versions of me, so that was also a nightmare, but that was taking it a little bit too far. But the one where I got to play five different ones was really fun.
I think what I like most about your character is, with each season, everybody is evolving to a degree, but because you are not the main character, you are a little bit off to the side, I feel like your character has almost changed the most since Season 1, and you just get to show up and do all these awesome things. Is your character’s evolution, is that a collaborative process with the showrunners, or is that just whatever is on the script from one season to the next, that’s what you do?
That’s a great question. I do feel really lucky. Reflecting back, I’m often not burdened with moving the plot forward, I just come in and be a crazy person, and so it’s the best job, it’s so fun.
There is never an explicit conversation about where I would fit into each one, but they will just hint at an idea or something and then really very much are like, “Do whatever you want with it,” kind of thing. The idea of the third season was that I would be this gunslinger, but they were like, “Put it on and do it, just make it not the typical version of what that would be.” So there’s some of that in the script and then some of it I get to put on, do what I want to do.
It’s really fun. I think as you spend more time, the writers have spent more time with us off camera, I think just naturally, they’re like, “We want to put you in this situation.” In this case, I was in a lot of spray tan and leather jackets and just being truly crazy. But yeah, it’s so fun. It’s been such a gift to be on a show like this, because for me, it’s like a dream. I just get to be really silly and have fun every day.
As far as the look of your character is concerned, you hear “post-apocalyptic,” and especially Dan is wearing the Mad Max jacket, so when you hear “post-apocalypse” and then you come to set and then see what you’re wearing, are you like, “Oh, okay, this isn’t as insane as it could have been. I’m not fully wrapped in chains,” or was there part of you that was like, “I wish I had some chains wrapped around me,”?
No, no. I thought I would be happy with this, until … Actually, this was the one where, we usually have a pretty extensive hair and makeup costume test on the show, which is so unusual for a half-hour comedy. But because, actually, the sets and the costumes are doing so much of the heavy lifting of how ridiculous we look and everything, that they put a lot of effort into it. This was the one season where I went through some really crazy stuff in terms of tests. Because this idea of, what does make you look a little bit like a robot but still human, and all of these things. At first, I was like, “Oh, this is cool. I’ll just get to look good.” They’re like, “You’ll be tan and you’ll have this slick skin,” and all this stuff.
But then we were shooting in 100 degrees in North Hollywood and I had seven layers of makeup, and it ended up being a true nightmare. I had a leather jacket and I was sweating, it was really bad. Then they were like, “You can’t sweat.” Everyone else could sweat and look dirty and bad. They’re like, “You can’t sweat, the robot can’t do this.” I’m just like, “I’m a human being and I’m going to be sweating and it’s going to be happening.”
It ended up being actually the hardest part, because I had two hours of hair and makeup every day. I’m used to the privilege as a guy, going in 20 minutes early, hair and makeup, and getting out of there. It was a lot of 4:45 a.m. calls and a lot to look like a Kardashian every day. But it ended up being iconic, I think, but a lot of work.
And because it’s a TBS sitcom, it’s not like you have Fast and Furious money where it’s like, “Oh, just CGI the sweat off of my face.” No, you’ve got to shoot it for real.
We’ve got to shoot it for real. I will say I’m almost surprised by how much money we do have, because I’m like, “Oh, okay.” There’s always that thing where, I’m always like, “Can’t that be fixed later?” And they’re like, “That is where we draw the line.” I was like, “Okay, okay, we’ll do this practical. Great.”
For a Season 5, has there been a premise or a setting, whether it be your own idea that you’ve come up with or rumors of ideas and thoughts that you’ve theorized about, where would you like to see a Season 5 take place?
We’ve had this discussion. I now can’t remember whose idea it was, but I do love this one the most, which is doing a murder mystery, an Agatha Christie style, a Clue, playing those heightened, Professor Plum kinds of characters. Then maybe Daniel as this nervous detective, and then Steve as the owner of this mansion. So something which is that world and that style. I love a fun comedy, murder mystery. That, to me, would be really fun, I think.
Miracle Workers: End Times premieres on TBS on Monday, July 10th.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter.
