Comic-Con@Home: Crossing Swords Season Two

 

Crossing Swords, one of Hulu’s newest animated shows, is returning for a rematch and Comic-Con has got your first look in how the stop-motion medieval fantasy story will take on its sophomore season. Hosted by Scott Mantz, the panel brought together creator John Harvantine IV, co-creator Tom Root, Adam Ray (Ruben), Tara Strong, (Coral), Seth Green (Blinkerquartz), Alanna Ubach (Queen Tulip), Adam Pally (Broth), and Yvette Nicole Brown (Sgt. Meghan), but surprisingly not Nicholas Hoult (Patrick). Root explained how the show is a good escape from the worries of the world, especially right now, while Harvantine justifies the time period as being ripe for jabbing and poking fun of kings and queens and such. Tara Strong marvels over the intricate the stop-motion on the show is.

Mantz remarks how he knew Yvette was Sgt. Meghan before he heard her voice, mainly through her hair style which the creators used deliberately so that each of the characters would reflect their actors well enough. Adam Ray mentions that his character, Ruben, is based on two kids from his childhood who gave him inspiration for Ruben’s rebellious nature. The crew misses Nicholas Hoult, who Seth showers with praise. Apparently his casting was a total surprise, as he approached the creators to play the part but was not told he’d be using an American accent. Still, his performance ended up fitting Patrick like a glove and he ended up tailoring the part to him.

As for the materials used, the blood in the show is revealed to be a mixture of puddy, KY Jelly, clay, and other materials. Then the kraken was made to a couple scales, one small, one as big as Harvantine’s wingspan. Allana Ubich talks about how crucial it is to stick to the script with the show, though Yvette makes sure everyone knows that Allana is great at improv. Adam Ray finds ad libbing much easier when you have a grip on the characters, which is important since rerecording takes often puts them over budget and reshooting on the stop-motion set is pretty difficult. They make up for this by recording many options the first time.

Crossing Swords is available on Hulu. Watch this panel here.