Forming the comedic and emotional backbone for the Apple TV+ original series Mythic Quest is the working relationship between video game developers Ian Grimm and Poppy Li. And while star Charlotte Nicdao‘s Poppy plays off Rob McElhenney‘s Ian well, Nicdao was originally slated for a different role entirely.
McElhenney, who also co-created the series and serves as an executive producer, reveals that Nicdao was initially cast as a completely different character, with Poppy planned to be an older woman. McElhenney spoke with co-creator Megan Ganz about rewriting the character of Poppy to accommodate the casting after noticing his natural onscreen rapport with Nicdao.
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“Poppy was written as older and just a different character. Charlotte came in and read for a different role and we immediately were like ‘She’s great and she’s got that part; let’s keep looking for Poppy.’ And every time we read really fantastic actors, I would be like ‘Hey Meg, you know that woman we hired for this other role? What about her for this?’ and [Megan] would be like ‘No, she’s too young and doesn’t really work with the show that we’ve actually written,'” McElhenney tells CBR. “And at one point [Charlotte] came in and read for something else and I said ‘I know I have chemistry with this person, I know I can do a scene with her!'”
McElhenney was quick to point out that he did not intend for Poppy and Ian’s dynamic to develop into a romantic one, just as he did not have romantic character arcs with male costars he shared chemistry with. Instead, McElhenney wanted to capitalize on his natural dynamic with Nicdao and rewrote the planned Poppy character accordingly.
“I just thought we could take whatever this thing is that I feel that we work well together and I think we can build a show around it,” McElhenney continues. “And it’s not that anybody was resistant because everybody loved Charlotte as this other character, it was just like that’s not the character that you wrote. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that if you find somebody who know is perfect, you throw the character out [you originally wrote] and you adapt the character for them and that’s exactly what we did and it’s been nothing but a joy ever since.”
Mythic Quest stars Rob McElhenney, Charlotte Nicdao, David Hornsby, Danny Pudi, Ashly Burch, Imani Hakim, Jessie Ennis and F. Murray Abraham, with Naomi Ekperigin, Caitlin McGee, Humphrey Ker, Chris Naoki Lee and Jonathan Wiggs. Season 2 premieres Friday, May 7 on Apple TV+.
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