Monsters at Work Creator Explains How Mike and Sully Fit Into the Story

The beloved Monsters, Inc. franchise has returned with the new Disney+ series Monsters at Work, which explores some new characters working at the company after it shifts from scares to laughs. The series revolves around a new set of characters led by Tylor Tuskmon, the top scaring student at Monsters University who was hired to be a scarer for Monsters, Inc., only to show up the day after scaring stopped. While a lovable band of new misfits are the focal point of Monsters at Work, Mike and Sulley still play a very important role in the story.

Billy Crystal and John Goodman once again voice Mike and Sulley, who have now been handed the keys to the entire company. It seems as though the two classic Monsters characters will be relegated to small appearances here and there over the course of the series, but they actually have their own story and a pivotal part to play in Monsters at Work, which is certainly great news for longtime fans.

Bobs Gannaway, creator and executive producer of Monsters at Work, recently sat down with ComicBook.com to talk about how Mike and Sulley fit into the new series.

“It was so tricky getting just to this idea. I know this idea seems so obvious, that we have this character that graduated from Monsters U and then he goes and shows up they changed to laugh power and that seems like an obvious idea, but it took us a long time just to hone in on that,” Gannaway explained. “A time of change is a great time to tell a story. Mike and Sulley are having to deal with being put in charge. If you look at that little shot and when they’re told, Mike’s super excited and Sulley’s face drops. Responsibility and then perks are the two attitudes. That was the fun of playing that where Sully is trying to shoulder this weight of responsibility, while Mike is running around enjoying being in charge, but also now he has to train a bunch of scary monsters on how to be funny.”

“We have a little short called Mike’s comedy class that falls at the end of, not all the episodes, but many of them,” Gannaway continued. “Just a standalone short where he’s trying to teach them how to be funny. Yeah, so it’s fun to arc that. That said the focus of the show from the beginning was on the new characters, the Mift crew, and making sure that the audience, like I said, they get to spend time with their old friends, but you get to meet new friends and hopefully fall in love with a new group because I just don’t want to repeat the movie.”

The stories of Mike and Sulley aren’t quite done yet, which is some seriously great news.

You can watch the full interview with Gannaway in the video at the top of the page. The first two episodes of Monsters at Work are now streaming on Disney+.