There were more than a gaggle of memorable episodes in season two of Adult Swim’s hit animated comedy, Teenage Euthanasia. Ann Dowd flipped her Aunt Lydia character from The Handmaid’s Tale to voice the sex-positive matriarch of Erica’s Erotic Emporium. And Kieran Culkin (Succession) voiced a memorable billionaire named Ref Mazos (sound familiar, does it, Jeff Bezos?). All of it fed into the show’s outlandish premise.
Set in inland Florida in a “mildly apocalyptic near future,” the series from creators Alissa Nutting and Alyson Levy revolves around the misadventures of the Fantasy family and their funeral home, Tender Endings. Lending their voices to the Fantasy family are the great Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite), Bebe Neuwirth (Cheers), Jo Firestone (Joe Pera Talks With You), and Tim Robinson (I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson). Season two stood out for many reasons, especially its guest stars.
“We were so lucky to have so many amazing guest stars,” Alissa Nutting told MovieWeb. “Kieran Culkin was so funny and did an incredible job. So did J. Smith Cameron [of Succession]. We’re huge Succession fans, and it was really fun to have both of them on the show and see their different iterations. Jinx Monsoon [RuPaul’s Drag Race] was a dream to have. Ben Platt was amazing. And Paul Giamatti did an incredible job using a retired mobster voice for a car and managed to be so moving and evocative while being hilarious. We had a really, really fun season.”
The fun isn’t over just yet. The season two finale airs tonight, September 27, so expect some surprises. Alissa Nutting and Alyson Levy shared more about that and other show tidbits in this exclusive MovieWeb interview.
From Weirdos to Bimbos
Surely Nutting and Levy are jazzed about how successful their animated comedy has become. Between its offbeat premise, punchy writing, and meanderings into the world of the undead, audiences have poured in. The characters sparkle. There’s Grandma Baba (Neuwirth), her adult children Uncle Pete (Robinson) and Trophy (Bamford), and Trophy’s teenage daughter, Euthanasia / ”Annie” (Firestone), a name accidentally given to her at one of Trophy’s dire low points.
Season two found Uncle Pete discovering the existence of foreskin — you read that right — and becoming pals with a mobster’s limo voiced by Paul Giamatti. (Again, you read that correctly.) Meanwhile, Trophy was elected mayor of Fort Gator and turns to sex education. Annie became a teen doctor and continued her adventure being more than just a two-hour hang. Best of all, perhaps, was Baba, who wound up stepping in for a deceased morning shock jock and begins expanding her friend circle.
The creators have been candid on why they launched the series, noting how the show “sees and celebrates the troubled teens, the bimbos, the weirdos, the crybabies, the unshowered, the voluntarily single mommies, men who are scared of baseball […], and the death-positives.” They also went on to share some of the season’s many highlights.
Season 2 Turned Heads
There were many plot points that stood out in season two and guest stars galore. In addition to Kieran Culkin, Ann Dowd, Jinx Monsoon, J. Smith Cameron, and Paul Giamatti, Chris Redd (Saturday Night Live), H. Jon Benjamin (Archer, Bob’s Burgers), Janelle James (Abbott Elementary), Lori Tan Chinn (Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, Orange is the New Black) and Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill) were among the talent that dropped in.
One of the storylines that captured a great deal of attention revolved around teenage Annie, who began exploring her sexuality. “I think in our society in particular, we really have an obsession with telling teenage girls how they should be sexually, how they should look, what they should want, what they should do, what they should not do, what’s bad to do, what’s good to do,” Alyson Levy shared. “With Season 2, we really wanted to tackle a sex education episode, where we have three different generations of women and show how they’ve navigated that in society.” She added:
You know, the character of Baba had to weld her own chastity belt when she was a high schooler. And Trophy decided to really capitalize monetarily on her sexuality. And Annie is really trying to look inward and say, ‘What actually turns me on? What do I want and like sexually as opposed to what the world is telling me to like or want?’
Ann Dowd figured prominently in that episode as the extremely sex-positive purveyor of Erica’s Erotica Emporium, who helps Annie with assistance from an AI simulator. Another notable turn arrived with the introduction of some of Baba’s friends, which Alissa Nutting said was an idea she and Levy wanted to do in season one.
“I have a group of friends, and we call ourselves the Hag Squad,” she said. “So I was very excited, we had a bunch of different stories about them. It was nice to get them in there. To just have a bunch of old women is fun to record. I don’t know if I just like old lady friends, but it’s kind of a Golden Girls thing, as our show takes place in Florida. But we also got some more insights into Baba and what she does outside of work. To me, that was a real dream come true.”
Dead or Alive, Teenage Euthanasia Goes On
There was a lot to pack into season two. But there was one story arc the creators didn’t have to time to include. “We would have liked to explore the lost sugar baby years of Trophy. We’re really hoping to get to see it in season three,” Alyson Levy said, adding:
“We didn’t have a spot for it this season, but it would be good to explore that time between when Trophy abandoned Annie at the funeral home as an infant when she was 16 and when she committed suicide and her corpse got sent back to the funeral home and became reanimated — those lost years when she married this geriatric billionaire and got a racehorse and was very rich. We’d like to see that play out.”
Allison Nutting also mentioned spending more time with the character of Sophie, played by Edie Patterson. “She was only in one episode for a little bit, but she’s kind of like Trophy’s nemesis. I really wanted to see her come back, but we just didn’t end up with an episode in season two. I love working with her, and I like the character for the show.”
Still to come is a much-talked-about Fantasy family vacation episode for the season finale. When asked what might surprise people about that outing, Levy said: “Oh, people might be concerned because the family is getting to leave Florida. So, what does that mean? It’s clearly not good anytime you have to leave the state of Florida. For them, it’s a lot of nerves around that, but maybe some excitement.” Levy continued:
It’s a road trip episode, so you get truly out of Fort Gator for the first time and expand. And of course, because it’s them, they’re also on the run. It’s unlike any of the other episodes we’ve made so far. I’m excited for people to see it.
Catch the season finale of Teenage Euthanasia on Adult Swim on Wednesday, September 27 and the following day on Max.
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