Summary
- Season 3 finale signals even more to come
- Season 4 will shock you – an emotional roller coaster from loss to love to surprise
- Lee Pace, Danai Gurira and Matthew Rhys join; Darkblood’s tease hints at a threat
Season 3 of Invincible ended on the highest of notes. The season finale, at the time of this interview, was the seventh-highest rated television episode of all time. Mark/Invincible (Steven Yeun) defeated Conquest (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Eve (Gillian Jacobs) reached her full potential, and a credit scene that is left up to interpretation. Co-showrunners Robert Kirkman and Simon Racioppa have big plans for Season 4 of the Prime Video series.
During this interview with Collider, Kirkman and Racioppa relish in the high expectations for the new season, the different emotions coming in Season 4, and welcoming new voices of Lee Pace, Danai Gurira and Matthew Rhys. They also address the Season 3 finale credit scene involving Damien Darkblood (Clancy Brown). Check out the full interview in the video or transcript below.
Season 4 of ‘Invincible’ Will Try To Shock You
“We want things to come out of left field and take you by surprise.”
I want to start out with the end of Season 3. So the Season 3 finale is currently the seventh highest rated television episode of all time.
SIMON RACIOPPA: Only seventh?
Only seventh. Did that put any sort of pressure or expectations coming into Season 3?
ROBERT KIRKMAN: No, because we were so far along on Season 4, by the time that happened, it was too late to do anything. So no. I mean, that’s the saving grace of television. Like, you can’t let that stuff bog you down or distract you or anything because then everything would crumble. At least it would for me. Simon might be more resilient. It was more reassuring because it was like, oh, if you like the Conquest episode, well, get ready because Season 4 has got so much cooler stuff in it. So yeah, it’s a nice, positive thing that kind of emboldens us for, you know, staying the course and, you know, to keep doing what we’re doing.
RACIOPPA: It was incredible, the feedback, you know, of that episode, on the season in general, was amazing. Like, we’re just happy people watch the show and enjoy it. And if they want to make it, you know, the best rated show in television history, that’s not up to us. That’s up to them. You know, they should just go ahead and do that if that’s something they want.
KIRKMAN: And it’s been my experience that if you give any words to Steven Yeun and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, these kinds of things happen.
Very, very true. Invincible does a great job of showing the various layers of emotion of humanity. Is there a particular emotion you wanted to highlight in Season 4?
KIRKMAN: All of the above. Like why pick one? I don’t know.
RACIOPPA: I think we take you to every single possible human emotion at some point in this season. Loss, love, you know, melancholy, ennui at some point, you know. We do it all.
KIRKMAN: I haven’t watched Inside Out in a while. Is overwhelmed an emotion?
It definitely has to be. It’s basically the typical invincible roller coaster of emotions that we’re used to, right?
KIRKMAN: I think the roller coaster is a good word for it because it is all about keeping you off balance and hitting you with things when you least expect it. And that’s the thing that we’re always trying to do in the writers room. And that’s the thing that everybody in the production is trying to uphold. And we want things to come out of left field and take you by surprise.
RACIOPPA: Honestly, we spend a lot of time just like, “How would Mark be feeling at this point after these events”, of whatever episode have happened. And how would Debbie feeling? Like, wouldn’t you be gutted? Wouldn’t it be like wanting to like, fall on the floor and like, cry your eyes out? We talk about this a lot, and obviously a lot of it is in the books, and we’re just looking for places we want to ground those emotions. And to me, that’s what makes the show feel real, is how our characters react to the things they go through. So we just want to really spend time and make that as emotionally real as possible.
Creating Narratives For New And Returning Characters
“I couldn’t be more excited for people to see that storyline. It’s a wild swing.”
One of those dynamics that I love, that everybody loves, is that Mark and Eve dynamic. What is it about them and their characteristics that balance each other out so well? That makes them fit together so well?
KIRKMAN: For me, it’s that they’re complete equals. I think that they’re both superheroes. They’ve both experienced a lot of the similar things. They both are very powerful in their own ways. And they relate to each other on a really intense, deep level. Building the relationship on that, I think, you know, makes it really strong and really interesting.
I think that I think the kids call that trauma bonding, if I’m not mistaken.
RACIOPPA: There’s definitely some trauma bonding. But also, like, Eve has her own life in a way. Like, yeah, she’s dating Mark, but she has her own goals, things she’s doing with their life. She’s not just Mark’s girlfriend. She’s Atom Eve. She’s one of the most powerful superheroes on the planet. So it’s like, she is that first, and then she’s in a relationship with Mark. And Mark is invincible first, and then he’s in a relationship with Eve. So they’re not codependent in that way. Their characters are not codependent on each other. They’re fully fleshed out, existing characters, who we now get to put in a relationship and see how that plays out.
‘Invincible’ Season 4 First Look Reveals Lee Pace’s Thragg and More Iconic Villains
Season 4 is due out on Prime Video later this year.
Some of the new voices, Lee [Pace], Danai [Gurira], Matthew [Rhys]. What about them made them right for their upcoming roles?
KIRKMAN: I mean, you know, just going through it — Lee has this power to his voice that comes through effortlessly. But there’s also a sense of calm that I think accentuates the power, to where, just hearing him talk is comforting and terrifying at the same time. And it’s a really unique thing that he has. It’s just really remarkable and compelling.
RACIOPPA: Like, quiet power often. You know, he’s got power without having to scream at you.
KIRKMAN: And Danai just has this very strong sense of purpose that I think she lent to Universa very well. Universa is somebody that is a threat on the surface, but she’s coming from a place of such desperation, that there’s like a sympathy that you have to have for that character. And Danai can handle anything. And so we knew that she would be able to kind of balance the, you know, she’s this weird alien threat, but she has this very relatable problem that she’s trying to solve, and she’s very invested in it, that kind of makes her a good person, even though in our environment she’s an antagonist. And so it comes off as a negative. It’’s fun to just figure out how the actors are going to weave these things and really give them these really complex things, and watch them build them into something really special.
RACIOPPA: We’re so lucky with our cast. Like I’ve said this a bunch of times, like here, getting to hear our cast take the words of the page and make them real is like one of the best parts of this job.
That’s amazing. I want to finish up quickly with the credits scene that we saw at the end of Season 3. [Damien] Darkblood saying he will bring a powerful being from Earth. Do we know for sure if that’s Mark he’s talking about?
KIRKMAN: I mean, we’ll find out. We don’t know for sure that that’s Mark he’s talking about. In fact, it’s entirely possible that that’s not Mark he’s talking about. So yeah, we’ll just have to see. But I couldn’t be more excited for people to see that storyline. It’s a wild swing. And, you know, I think I think people are going to like it.
Watch Invincible on Prime Video.
