Space Force’s Greg Daniels on How Series Sets Itself Apart from The Office and John Malkovich’s Standout Role

In a matter of days, Netflix’s Space Force will race onto the scene, quenching the thirsts for those clamoring for the Steve Carell comedy. Carell created the series with former The Office collaborator Greg Daniels, riffing on the United States military’s introduction of Space Force. Earlier this year, ComicBook.com had the chance to catch up with Daniels about the side-splitting comedy and chat about how the show manages to set itself apart of the previous project he and Carell collaborated on.

“Yeah, I think it’s more cinematic than The Office and Parks and Rec, as the subject matter is the whole branch of the armed forces and this mission,” Daniels tells us. “It depends. I mean, I think you’ll find a little bit similar, but it’s also just on a bigger scale. That’s a good question.”

Though a workplace comedy through and through, Space Force is much more cinematic – a certain divergence from both of the Daniels-created mockumentaries. “I mean, there are some similarities and there are some differences,” he adds. “It looks more like a movie than a documentary. But on the other hand, it’s also a character comedy, which is similar.”

As for how he got involved, Carell had been meeting with executives at Netflix when the comedian was offered a series. Carell then took advantage of the one thing dominating the news cycle and subsequently extended an invitation to Daniels to come on board as co-creator and executive producer. “Well, there was an executive at Netflix who had a meeting with Steve, and said, ‘All right, two words. Space Force. What about that?’” Daniels says. “Because he was trying to get Steve interested in an idea, and Steve called me and said, ‘How about something called, Space Force? What about that? You’ve got any ideas?’”

The series also includes John Malkovich, the Oscar-nominated actor oftentimes known for his eccentricity, as scientist Dr. Adrian Mallory. “Yeah, John Malkovich is very funny. I mean, he’ll just do it,” Daniels mentions. “That’s not the primary thing that he’s known for. But if you looked at some of the Coen Brothers stuff like Burn After Reading, he’s quite funny. And he’s very funny in this, I mean, what a treat to get him involved. It’s awesome.”

Joining Carell and Malkovich include Diana Silvers, Ben Schwartz, Lisa Kudrow, Tawny Newsom, andJimmy O. Yang, amongst others. Space Force hits Netflix this Friday, May 29th.