After premiering in 2020, Solar Opposites had the tall task of attempting to escape the shadow of Rick and Morty. However, it didn’t take long for the show to amass a sizable following of dedicated fans that enjoyed the oddball characters and zany storylines. But ahead of Solar Opposites’ sixth season, Hulu announced that it would also be the show’s last. While obviously disappointed, executive producers Mike McMahan and Josh Bycel still set out to create a final season that would leave fans happy and wanting more.
“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.”
Bubbleblabber sat down with McMahan and Bycel as well as actors Mary Mack and Sean Giambrone to discuss what the final season of Solar Opposites means to them and why this goodbye doesn’t have to last forever.
Matthew Swigonski: How would you describe this season?
Mary Mack: Comforting sensationalism. The smallest thing in Solar’s world can become the biggest fiasco. And there’s these little grab bars in the season like an estate sale or like dad energy or whatever. But it is always accompanied by something colossal and ridiculous and surprising. So, I’m gonna say comforting sensationalism are my two words.
Sean Giambrone: And my words would probably be similar. Mine would be dramatic because there’s such huge moments that happen … like big revelations. From things that a lot of people were wondering about from Season One. Their answers come up this season. At Comic-Con, we watched one episode and everyone was kind of tearing up behind stage because it really packs a punch there.
And then the wall comes to an end. Yumyulack gets to have a moment of like confrontation, which was exciting for me to have a moment in there kind of like the tone of the show. And then Silver Cops come and even that has some huge kind of satisfying closure. So, I’d say dramatic.
Matthew Swigonski: Is it a bittersweet feeling being able to close out your character’s story? Do you feel like this season is a proper send-off?
Mary Mack: Oh, yeah. I mean it’s good to give the fans some closure. I mean, who knows, Matthew, maybe somebody else will want to run the show longer and make some more of the series? It’s got a proven track record, and so I’m gonna just remain optimistic. I will call it a send-off. I won’t call it a close. I’ll call it a send-off and a segue … into maybe something else.
Sean Giambrone: With them being aliens, it kind of gives a cool perspective of Earth and everything. The world’s constantly changing. It’s such a sweet dynamic to really just dive into whatever pop culture things are going on. So it really can go on forever and. So I think yeah, who knows, maybe it comes back? But there are some cool moments that kind of play off with some stuff that fans are wondering about.
Matthew Swigonski: What would you say has been your favorite aspect of your characters throughout the show’s run?
Mary Mack: My God. I like how we start. I like how my character seems like she’s the innocent one. The down-to-earth, sensible one. But it only takes like 30 seconds and she’s into an evil plan. I mean she just easily goes not to the dark side but to the poor choice.
Sean Giambrone: Yumyulack, I like his kind of unhinged, menacing kind of character. And then he just wants to be cool and accepted. He’s actually kind of a nice guy, and I like that about him.
Mary Mack: Yeah, he became a lot nicer. [Sean] brought that up in another interview, he became a lot happier throughout the season and way more likable. He kept shrinking people, but people deserve it. People deserved it! Don’t let them make you feel bad, Sean. [Laughs]
Matthew Swigonski: Mary Mack used the words “comforting sensationalism” when talking about the final season. Was that kind of the goal? To leave viewers with an emotional impact without saying goodbye for real?
Mike McMahan: I think we wanted it to feel like the end of an era, the potential beginning of a new one, and to not suck. We actually wanted to be funny. We didn’t want it to feel like it was just like circling the drain all season towards a finale. So there’s endings, there’s beginnings, there’s new stuff, there’s weird stuff. In a comedy, finales can kind of fall flat. The best finale gives you everything you want and also gives you everything you don’t expect.
Josh Bycel: The only thing I would add is that we also wanted to feel like if and when we do get to do more seasons, which we’re just manifesting … that we have somewhere to go. So I think that while we close off this version of the story, we have so many places to go in the Wall and Silver Cops, and especially the Solars.
Matthew Swigonski: I’m glad you brought that up. Is there one episode in particular that you’re most excited about for fans to see?
Josh Bycel: There is an episode that is sort of weirdly like our version of a clip show, except with all new clips. Sort of hearkening back to when Mike and I were kids … or at least me. I am definitely older. Where VHS was a big piece of our life and tape-recording things and having your siblings record over the things you loved. And that’s really truly a love letter to our characters, but also a love letter to the classic episodes of TV that because we’re Solar Opposites, we have to subvert and change in every way possible.
Mike McMahan: There’s also a really funny Wall episode. Like the Wall this season is very… it’s like Apollo 13 and also like The Core. It’s like these big adventure kind of like movies where people go out, and they have to get something accomplished. Or like The Abyss. It’s both really funny and then really dramatic and I love how it ends. So it feels like the end of an era again and then also another offer for where the Wall could go.
Matthew Swigonski: When all is said and done, whether that’s this year or 10 years from now, where do you think this show sits in the animation universe?
Mike McMahan: I think this show is kind of like, in some ways, it’s an American Dad. Where American Dad had its Family Guy and we had our Rick and Morty, right? And both shows kind of stand on their own and have their own identity. We got to do some really cool experimentation with this show that other animated shows that air on broadcast, that are not all being dropped at once, can’t do because somebody might have missed an episode. So the sort of linear, interesting, long-term storyline stuff makes the show really special.
We experimented the whole time and did crazy shit the entire time. We always had Hulu’s support. They always backed us up to do the weirdest thing that made us laugh. Other people that work on animated shows like us. We’ve talked to Matt Selman, and we’re big fans of his work on The Simpsons, and he’s a big fan of us doing Solar Opposites. He’s actually invited us to do one of the opening couch gags on The Simpsons with the Solar characters.
So in the animation community, we’ve kind of changed the name of the game a little bit with what rules there are, what rules can be broken, what you can accomplish. Because six seasons and a couple holiday specials is nothing to shake a stick at. That’s a successful run. Who knows whether we come back or not. We accomplished something in the animation space of being really funny, being really open, being really inclusive of gender and sexuality.
All the kinds of jokes you can tell when a show can be so inclusive and so fucking funny the entire time and say something about society or about people or about family or about yourselves. And have it not feel like a Saturday morning kids cartoon … that it can still be adult. You can still hang out at a bar with it on and have an awesome time. I think there’s something really special about that.
We’re gonna live on Hulu. The first five seasons are on Netflix as well. Hopefully people are driven to this final season on Hulu. And that as it exists out there, people still find it. It isn’t a thing that just gets put on the DVD shelf, and then something else comes out to replace it. Because it does feel a little irreplaceable.
Josh Bycel: No, I can not say it better than that.
Mike McMahan: Josh wants to do a movie!
Josh Bycel: Oh, I would love to do a movie! Oh my God, we would love to do a movie.
Mike McMahan: You know what I want to do? A Solar Opposites Nintendo 64 game.
Josh Bycel: That would be fun.
Mike McMahan: Low Res. Hard to play.
Season 6 of Solar Opposites premieres Monday, October 13 with 10 episodes on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+