At long last, the sixth and final season of Hulu's Solar Opposites is now streaming and we were recently able to sit down with executive producers Mike McMahan and Josh Bycel to talk about their decision to end the series on a high.
While we talk about how they initially set the stage for the show's ending several seasons ago, they also talk about some of their favorite guest stars, some guest stars they weren't able to get, some episode ideas that didn't make it out of the writers' room, what happened at The Wall, and a whole lot more!
All six seasons of Solar Opposites are now streaming exclusively on Hulu!
Watch our full chat below and/or keep scrolling to read the full transcription. Plus, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exclusive content!
ROHAN: When did you come up with the finale? Was this something you had mapped out seasons prior or did it happen organically?
MIKE: It was kind of both. The 99 Ships episode in a previous season sort of set up breadcrumbs of where we wanted to go with the Solars themselves as they related to the galaxy, in general, to keep it spoiler free. So, we knew that that was ultimately going to be where that went. We thought, you know, we could have kept making the show for many more seasons, but luckily, season six is a lot of episodes of Solar Opposites, so we were able to accelerate some of the stuff we ended up doing, both in The Wall and with the Solars and with the Silver Cops to give people kind of a sense of finality while also keeping it open and fun.
JOSH: Yeah, I would just say that it was really important for us to make sure that not only with The Wall, and the other thing, but especially with the Solars, especially in this season, we sort of unlocked something that would give them different kinds of stories for the first time, and I think we're able to do that as well.
ROHAN: Was there ever any idea that you guys wanted to tackle in an episode that you weren't able to make happen?
MIKE: There was kind of like a thing I wanted to do that was sort of like a Wizard of Oz, sort of fantasy world invading our world thing where it was like sci-fi versus fantasy that we kind of did some stuff with that this season, but I wanted to grow that into another show, in a show multi-season, growing threat arc, and so you get a taste of that this season. But, if we had kept going, I had some ideas for that, for sure.
JOSH: I wanted to do - I love this movie that's not a great movie from the ‘90s, called The Hard Way, where Michael J. Fox is a famous actor, and he's shadowing James Woods, who's a real cop, and it was like a big ‘90s summer movie, and I wanted to do that where an actor from Hollywood who's playing an alien in a movie comes and shadows the aliens because they're real aliens. We never got the yes, but I tried, I just always got a no.
ROHAN: I think everyone loves The Wall storyline - when did you decide on the ending for that subplot?
MIKE: We had some things that we knew we wanted to do with The Wall, but The Wall kept growing and we kept learning more stuff we liked, like characters that we would fall in love with, villains that became heroes. So, you know, in some ways, the theme of The Wall is always that trying to hold on to power, trying to control people, is what ultimately results in people being hurt, right, in a tough situation. And so, you know, we wanted to resolve a lot of the stuff in The Wall as it pertained to Yumyulack putting the people into The Wall. Like an alien stuck these people into The Wall, and there's a resolution to that story, but what doesn't get resolved is people's instincts and that the people in The Wall are making the same mistakes that people make in real life.
ROHAN: There's so many great guest stars - was there anyone that was on your wish list you weren't able to get? Or did you have a favorite that you couldn't believe you got?
MIKE: We tried to get Allison Janney for a role, and it just never worked out, but I'm a huge fan of hers - but, no, for the most part, we've been really lucky. It's mostly just scheduling and timing, and we've gotten some amazing guest stars over the years, like people I can't even believe, you know, like Josh, I mean, it's kind of wild the talent that we've pulled.
JOSH: Sterling K. Brown, still unbelievable, Christina Hendricks, still unbelievable that we got them, they're so incredible.
MIKE: Linda Hamilton! For our Valentine's Day special, that was wild. It was fun to get to pull some folks over from, you know, a couple people over from Star Trek: Lower Decks as well. It was fun to have Jack Quaid and Jerry O'Connell and Dawnn Lewis show up, and, you know, it's fun to get to work with people that you're a fan of, and fun to get to work with people that you love working with.
I mean, how about we have multiple seasons of Kieran Culkin, Oscar-award winner, you know, he's brilliant, he's funny, and he's odd in a very fun way, like we got to have a recurring character for him to play across multiple seasons, it’s surreal. It's awesome.
Once their alien diamond making machine gets destroyed, the Solar Opposites must face their greatest challenge yet: living their expensive lives on a budget! When their consumerist habits and expensive hobbies are gone, only their true selves will remain... but will they like who they find? ALSO: The epic story of the people of The Wall has all built to this thrilling and shocking conclusion…