The Last Man On Earth executive producers take us behind the scenes of season four.
In our latest installment, we dive intothe first three episodes fromThe Last Man on Earthsfourth season.
And thats only the beginning of their problems.
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The Last Man on Earth Season 4 Episode 1 M.U.B.A.R.
ERIK DURBIN:We didnt have anything figured out.
Towards the end of the season, most of our creative energy goes into planning the wrap party.
But youll be happy to know it was a raucous success with an impressive selection of chips and dips.
How much had been worked out with Kristen Wiig and her character Pamela?
Because of her busy schedule, Kristen Wiig was only available for three episodes.
That Rear Admiral Roy Billups death is just too perfect and somehow a running joke thathasntoverstayed its welcome yet.
Your claim to fame at this point is killing off A-listers and bad puns.
Talk a little on breaking this story beat and Jack Blacks involvement.
He backed it up by referencing some specific moments in various episodes.
Either way we were so glad he played that part.
Was that fun to explore?
Yes, it was nice to have Tandy be innocent in a love triangle situation.
And its always fun when Carol isnt her normal sweet self.
Seeing her jealous/vindictive side is interesting and scary and funny.
Damn, you guys really up your game with that cliffhanger.
Both in terms of separating the characters, but also this whole inhabited island angle, too.
Was it exciting to get to mix things up more than usual with this premiere?
It was definitely exciting to have Kristen Wiig for a full episode.
How did he come into things?
TIM MCAULIFFE:Chris is one of the funniest guys Ive ever seen.
He was the perfect choice.
The bit involved him trying to determine whether a new & improved dog food was in fact better.
They wheeled out two dogs with two different bowls of dog food next to them.
He did with such a straight face, such a genuine sincerity.
It was so strikingly funny.
Ive been a big fan ever since.
Is this something that you guys talk about at all and have a somewhat concrete idea of?
Do you think youll hit your limit for introducing new people at some point?
There are exactly 23 other people out there.
All of them resemble extremely A-list actors with limited schedules who will be killed shortly after meeting our cast.
Why did this desert island approach feel like the right introduction for Glenn?
Did you guys discuss any different backstories at all for the character?
We were very excited about the idea of someone completely being in the dark about the virus.
Its what weve seen a lot of our characters encounter, and to me its always interesting.
Glenn definitely opens up this optimism vs. pessimism theme thats present through the show.
Do you think its important to show both sides of that mindset during this time that theyre in?
But then once a new person was injected into his life, he saw the light.
And I think thats a big reason why our group stays together.
Human contact no matter how annoying is more valuable than solitude.
Sorry, that wasnt very funny.
But, it certainly was deep and, I must say, really smart.
Pamelas eventual exit looms closer.
I think we knew we wanted to show Pamelas struggle to break free of the person she was pre-virus.
In the bunker it seemed like she had a real awakening.
I love that you use that Herman Cain song by Tim Heidecker to close out the episode.
I certainly never expected to hear that on web link television.
Was there any debate over that decision?
Im actually not sure.
Will is friends with Tim and had the record on his computer.
He dropped it in and showed the room and immediately everyone was on board.
And now none of us can get the song out of our heads.
On a personal note, Im a huge fan of Tims.
FromTim & ErictoDeckerto his faux-amateur stand-up to his music, hes just so friggin talented.
Meanwhile, Todd is disappointed that Zihuatanejo is not the paradise of which hed dreamed.
Did you intentionally want to invite those comparisons?
Plus it was very fun to imagine how this highbrow person would grovel.
Talk a little on building this love story between them.
Its essentially their episode.
It is their episode!
Which of course led to new romantic choices.
But ultimately they are drawn together by shared loss and the desire to never be alone again.
I love that more logistics of this apocalypse situation are explored, like howZihuatanejo is still riddled with corpses.
Is it nice to get to explore some of that territory again in this new area?
Talking about how the rest of the world experienced the virus is a fun area to explore.
Todd goes through a lot in this episode, too.
After the revelation thatShawshanksending was actually filmed in St. Croix, will the gang still be staying in Zihuatanejo?
I cant make any promises about the locations for the rest of the season.
But I dont think Todd will be going to St. Croix anytime soon.
How did you guys decide to approach the beginning of this year?
It felt right that they would complement each other and prove to be a perfect pair.
Our walkthrough ofLast Man On Earthsfourth season will continue every three weeks.
Our walkthroughs of the shows previous seasons can be foundhere.
