We’re going inside the Last Man on Earth writers' room for an episode-by-episode breakdown of season two.
We learn that six months have passed since season ones finale.
And we liked that it gave us an opportunity to get back to basics with them.
We wanted people to wonder if the cast was even in the show anymore.
We compromised at bringing them in at the end of episode two.
We would have gone longer, but theres a financial reality to deal with.
Were paying Mel and Cleo and January and Boris to stay home?
For how many episodes?
We need clips for our promos.
How are we going to promote the show?
The data pipe promotion model is very much a game of Remember that thing you like?
Well its right here and its just how you like it.
ANDY BOBROW:One idea was to start season two on Jason Sudeikis.
Just do a whole episode of him in space and make it like the pilot.
Just one guy for 22 minutes, passing the time, going crazy, mirroring what Tandy did.
We had him learning new languages, learning to juggle.
I thought it would be great to see him juggling in zero gravity.
The balls just sit there.
Will wasnt too hot on that one anyway.
Another rejected story for Tandy and Carol was a honeymoon in Vegas.
Weve talked about Vegas forever, but we may never pull the trigger on that.
The discussion always grinds to a halt when we talk about the reality of the elevators not working.
But ultimately, the simple story of them getting separated was perfect.
Were always looking for the stories that only our show can tell.
Whats perilous for these people that wouldnt be perilous for us?
Getting separated in a world without phones is a huge deal.
What more than anything did you hope to be saying to the audience with this return to the show?
Tandys beard is back, first and foremost.
I remember so many discussions about that beard.
When is it coming off?
Can it come off sooner?
Can we put him on the billboard without it?
Will always wanted his character to shave for Melissa.
So yeah, from the moment it came off, Will was growing it back.
Was it always an aircraft carrier that Tandy was messing around with in this?
I think he and Dave Noel came up with the bomber during one of the rewrites.
It was just a matter of John saying, Isnt there some huge splashy image we can open on?
Then for the next few episodes we had to take a stab at climb out of that financial hole.
So we didnt show you how it happened or where she is.
We also get right back to Mike Miller in space.
We knew we couldnt end season one on Mike Miller and then ignore him for any length of time.
In my opinion, it wasnt ideal, but Jason had very limited availability.
Mike having worm friends like Phil does with his balls is such a nice touch, too.
There was some discussion of whats the difference between the two Miller brothers?
And our first instinct was to have Mike be the opposite of Tandy totally buttoned down and scientific.
It made sense to let Mike have the same sensibility as Tandy.
Hes just more successful.
Early on we all kind of assumed the show could delve into flashbacks.
These people are just thrown together randomly for no understandable reason.
Ordinarily thats not an ideal setup for storytelling, but for our weird premise, it totally works.
He smells it a mile away and he just refuses to go there.
So the little bit that we showed seemed like just enough.
Even Carol Pilbasian lost her shit briefly.
We love that the worst tragedy in human history is a pervasive force in these peoples lives.
Without dialogue to rely on, everything needs to be a big visual set-piece, like car bowling.
A train isnt always an easy thing to secure.
Was it something else in the script originally?
Did you want to do something even crazier and then had to settle with the train?
We got stuck on that detail for sure.
Huge banks of speakers?
(I think we did consider that one actually.)
I think what we found was, theres basically no plausible way he could communicate with her.
Our train gag doesnt stand up to even the slightest bit of scrutiny.
But it passed the test of being funny and also being the perfect Tandy solution.
And hey, its within the miraculous reality of our show.
Its no less plausible than a spectacular car stunt in aFast and Furiousmovie, and people love those things.
Tandy himself becomes a much more empathetic character this season.
I was abigfan of Tandys antagonistic run during the first season and how different it was for a comedy.
Can you talk a bit on that new re-positioning for the character?
Yeah, I touched on it up above, but yes it was definitely a conscious decision.
Tandys personality last year became polarizing.
Not at first, but around episode six, some people started saying, fuck this guy.
Thats my ego kicking in, trying to say, Hey, correcting Tandy wasnt your idea, internet.
We were already doing it.
I dont know why Im so compelled to point that out.
Im thrilled you liked Asshole Phil, actually.
Kramer could be those things, but Jerry had to be more likeable.
And Will was like, This is funny.
And it took many of us out of our comfort zone, just like it did for the audience.
And Im also really proud that we pulled it back in the right ways we pulled it back unsentimentally.
The whole Melissa Chartres thing [Melissas last name is revealed to be Shart during the first season].
Get into that a little bit.
Was it just you messing with canon and seeing who was paying attention?
That was Dan Sterlings pitch.
We love that joke more than its healthy to love a joke.
We still dont understand why we have not been awarded the Nobel Joke Prize for that joke.
Why was it necessary to burn Tandys house down?Didthey even burn it down?
This is a great example of how Fortes brain works.
Hes thinking in images and emotions above anything else.
He goes, And when Tandy gets there, the house is completely torched.
And well go, How did it get torched?
And hell go, I dont know, Phil did it maybe.
Or they all did it.
Its just me walking through this husk of a house.
Itll be so rad.
And hes 100 percent right.
Talk to me about Will Ferrell.
We were so lucky to have Will.
I feel bad talking about other choices.
Our walkthrough onLast Man on Earthssecond season will continue tomorrow.
