Thus is the early conundrum introduced in “Mythic Quest” Season 2, the follow-up to McElhenney’s well-received Apple TV+ comedy, as well as its highly praised quarantine episode from last summer. Fans can get an early glimpse at Ian and Poppy’s brainstorming process in the new teaser-trailer below, and they’ll be able to dig into the first full episode when Season 2 premieres Friday, May 7.
Apple TV+ revealed the teaser, release date, and more during the series’ panel at the Television Critics Association 2021 Winter Press Tour. Check out the official synopsis below: Related Times Have Changed, but ‘Little America’ Returns for Season 2 as Sweet and Smart as Before Apple’s MLS Streaming Service Costs Twice as Much as an Apple TV+ Subscription Related 2023 Oscars: ‘Avatar’ Is the One to Beat in Visual Effects ‘Lift Me Up’ Rises to Frontrunner Status in Best Original Song RaceWith the quarantine finally over, Season 2 of “Mythic Quest” finds everyone back in the office (well, almost everyone), attempting to build upon the success of Raven’s Banquet by launching an epic new expansion, but Ian (Rob McElhenney) and the newly promoted co-creative director, Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao), struggle with the game’s direction. Meanwhile, C.W. (F. Murray Abraham) reconciles some unresolved issues from his past, the testers (Ashly Burch and Imani Hakim) test the bounds of an office romance, and David (David Hornsby) loses yet another woman in his life as Jo (Jessie Ennis) leaves him to assist Brad (Danny Pudi). “Mythic Quest” is created by Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Megan Ganz, all of whom also executive produce alongside Michael Rotenberg and Nicholas Frenkel for 3Arts Entertainment as well as Jason Altman, Danielle Kreinik, and Gerald Guillemot for Ubisoft Film and Television. David Hornsby also serves as executive producer, in addition to his role in the series. McElhenney, Day, Ganz, Rotenberg, Frenkel, and Hornsby all first collaborated on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” the ongoing FX comedy series. During the TCA presentation, McElhenney and Nicdao spoke about how their characters’ working relationship evolved after the series’ widely praised “Quarantine” episode, as well as where Ian and Poppy might go in the future. “I think that we recognized that this isn’t ‘Sunny,’ where the characters don’t change […] these characters are going to evolve,” McElhenney said. “Ian and Poppy’s relationship has always been at the center of the show, and it can’t always be this one-note combative relationship. […] It has to be a fully realized three-dimensional relationship. […] Otherwise, why would they keep working together?”
“I think at the end of the day, Poppy and Ian are best friends, and in this moment, at the end of the day, they’re there for each other,” Nicdao said. “But who knows if they’ll be able to keep getting along after.” One idea the producers did shut down was a romantic future for the two coworkers. “We don’t ever plan to make that a romantic storyline. Our ‘will they won’t they’ [plot] is between the testers [played by Ashly Burch and Imani Hakim],” Ganz said. “With Ian and Poppy, all of their love is put into the thing they’re creating.” McElhenney and the producers also spoke about how the pandemic altered Season 2, including abandoning an episode that saw the characters attending E3, the video game industry’s popular trade event that’s been pushed into the digital realm along with everything else these days. Safety precautions also kept actor F. Murray Abraham off-set for the first half of the season, despite the 81-year-old actor’s objections. “When we first set out to go back to work, we wanted to be as careful as we could possibly be, recognizing all the variables [surrounding coronavirus transmission],” McElhenney said. “One of those was that people of a certain age, or over a certain age, were at greater risk. […] I reached out to Murray and said, ‘We need to get creative here.’ […] He was not pleased. Murray said, ‘I want to come, I want to be there,’ and I said, ‘Respectfully, I don’t want to be known as the person who got F. Murray Abraham very, very ill.’” The compromise was to have Abraham’s character working remotely, as well, though the actor did eventually join his peers on set after the seventh episode. Fans can expect to see Abraham (and his character) utilized in a much different capacity than Season 1. Get a brief glimpse at Abraham in the Season 2 teaser trailer below.
“Mythic Quest” Season 2 will premiere Friday, May 7 on Apple TV+. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
