Summary

  • The return of Megamind has fans excited, as the blue alien transitions from supervillain to superhero, navigating new challenges in Metro City.
  • Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate and Megamind Rules! continue the story, with new characters and threats testing our hero's mettle.
  • The team behind the franchise has plans for future seasons, hinting at potential returns of beloved characters from the original movie.

DreamWorks' beloved blue alien is back with Megamind Rules!. The franchise first kicked off with the 2010 animated movie starring Will Ferrell as the titular alien whose desires to defeat the superhero Metro Man seemingly pay off, putting him on an uncertain path in life. After defeating a new powerful being he created, Megamind elects to become the new hero of Metro City.

Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate picks up almost right after the movie, with the titular character having to hide his new life from his former villainous associates after they break out of prison. Rules! similarly picks up right after its sequel events, with Megamind working with his romantic interest Roxanne Ritchi, now the mayor of Metro City, young superfan Keiko and his childhood companion Chum to stop various threats around the city.

Titan, Roxanne, Megamind, and Mega-Megamind from the Megamind movies
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All 4 Megamind Movie & TV Show, Ranked From Worst To Best

Megamind's new movie and TV show are the first projects in over a decade for DreamWorks' franchise, but how do they compete with the originals?

Ahead of both the movie and show's premieres, Screen Rant interviewed director Eric Fogel and creators/writers Brent Simons and Alan Schoolcraft to discuss Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate and Megamind Rules!, the long wait for a proper sequel, introducing the new team of villains, and bringing in new actors for the characters.

Schoolcraft & Simons Have Been Cooking Up Megamind Ideas For Over A Decade

Megamind looking confident with the Doom Syndicate in Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate

Screen Rant: I'm very excited to chat with you all, it's so fun to see the Megamind franchise return. Eric, I will turn to you first. You are a newcomer to this franchise, directing the sequel. What was it like getting to be a part of this franchise with its major cult following already from the first film?

Eric Fogel: It's an honor to be invited in. I was a huge fan of that original film, and when I knew that Brent and Alan were coming back to be part of this, I was all in, and couldn't be more excited to be part of it.

So, Brent and Alan, I'll turn to you guys next. I reading around the time the movie came out that DreamWorks wasn't initially thinking about a sequel, but now here we are talking about not just a sequel, but also a TV show. How long have you guys been sort of percolating ideas for a follow-up?

Brent Simons: Like, 15 years. Even before the original came out, we kind of just had this idea how, suddenly, where the story goes next became really interesting to us. There were discussions off and on in those years, but, yeah, we just kind of fell in love with these ideas. We were happy to have that movie, and maybe it was a one-off. So, when DreamWorks approached us about doing a TV project seven years ago, it was so great to bring these ideas back that had just been stuck in our heads that we were kind of excited to get out. [Chuckles]

Alan Schoolcraft: And the good thing about a TV show is that we had a lot of different ideas to what a sequel would be. Too many ideas, and now we've got a chance to tell them all, which is fantastic.

Eric Fogel: And when I came in, it's always a little nerve-wracking meeting new people. Brent and Alan were such great collaborators that it just made it so easy for a newbie like me to come in and just sort of put our heads together and help brainstorm and map out the series.

Brent Simons: We were big fans of Eric's, going back to Celebrity Deathmatch, and The Head. So we were really jazzed to work with him.

So, Eric, what would you say were some of the ideas you brought to the table that weren't already on Brent and Alan's minds when they had this whole universe planned out for what was to come?

Eric Fogel: One of the things I talking about early on was the introduction of this big bad villain known as Machiavillain, and sort of how to introduce that character. I talking about sort of teasing him out bit by bit, so maybe you don't get him all at once. We sort of talked about this through line where they have to sort of recreate his body by stealing elements and ingredients. So, it's kind of a slow burn to get to his reveal by the midseason. That was fun to sort of be part of that and try to figure that stuff out.

Alan Schoolcraft: It created more of a mystery around him, which was good. There was definitely a slow burn, it's like, "Who is this guy and how bad is he gonna be?" And then in the second half, you see he's terrible, in a good way.

Recasting Will Ferrell Wasn't Easy (But The Team Are Confident In Their Choice)

Megamind being afraid of Rochelle in Megamind Rules

I'm definitely intrigued to see more of him! So, one of the interesting things — and probably what was one of the most challenging things for you guys — was bringing in a new voice cast for both the movie and the show. And I know that, obviously, with Hollywood schedules, it can be hard to get anybody back, let alone to do both a movie and a TV show. What was the thought process with this recasting? Was it to start fresh, or was it due to scheduling?

Brent Simons: Yeah, there's a lot of internal discussions we're not privy to, but I think it ultimately usually comes down to the time. And having Megamind and this ensemble around, that's a lot of people's schedules to organize. So, I think it was decided early on to find fresh talent. But also, we were lucky enough to get Keith Ferguson, who was Megamind's voice in a lot of video games, and some of the commercials when the movie came out. We even cast a wide net, but we always came back to Keith because, not only does he have that experience of speaking in Will's voice, he's such a talented voice actor that he's able to kind of take the baton from Will, and build on what Will created. It's a collaboration, even though these two guys — I'm not sure if they've even met — it's such a cool and interesting thing to see.

Eric Fogel: There's a term that DreamWorks likes to use when trying to find these voice actors to replace people from the movies. They don't like to call them soundalikes, they call them feelalikes. I think that was a thing that we sort of latched on to with Keith, where he was able to sort of build on that character, and sort of add layers to it, which you need, because we're expanding the world now, and expanding relationships.

Alan Schoolcraft: Yeah, so Will Ferrell has only done the voice for, you know, 85 minutes whereas Keith has now done it for 10 hours.

Eric Fogel: Hundreds of minutes. [Chuckles] And the same goes for all the cast. Laura Post as Roxanne, Josh Brener as Chum, Maya Aoki Tuttle as Keiko. They all bring just a real pathos, and just bring these characters to life. It's so fun to see them all, and hear them all interacting.

Brent and Alan, I wanted to come back to you next. One thing I noticed about the sequel and the show, in comparison to maybe the original movie, was it had a bit of a lighter, maybe younger demographic tone. Was that always kind of the intent was to start skewing more towards younger viewers with these new projects in comparison to the original?

Brent Simons: No, actually. I mean, there's the introduction of the new character, Keiko, who's like a younger character, so yeah, that younger point of view does come in. But we didn't want to write down, and DreamWorks didn't encourage us to write something strictly for kids. As the show goes, we're entering the movie kind of through her eyes as she's introduced to the world and the team. But as the bigger story plays beyond this movie, it very much tonally matches up to the movie's intense situations that these characters get into. It's certainly humorous, but the stakes, you know, we like to write broad humor with grounded stakes. So, the team's really going to be tested.

Alan Schoolcraft: Yeah, the goal with the movie was just to make a fun movie for the whole family to enjoy, because that's what we want the show to be, for families to sit down and watch it together. But it does, as the show sort of progresses, I don't want to say mature themes, but it gets to be, like Brent said, a little more like the tone of the movie. And I think people will be really surprised as the show goes on.

Well, I'm really curious then to see where that goes. Eric, I'll return to you. The look of the original movie already had this cinematic, superhero-like epic feel to it. What was it like for you coming in and trying to find your own unique look and feel to this while also staying true to Brent and Alan's vision?

Eric Fogel: It was really important for me just to sort of have continuity, which is a challenge when you're working within a TV animation budget and schedule. But I think, luckily, we were able to pull a lot of those original assets from that original film. We did have to do a lot of updating to the assets, just because 14 years have gone by, and technology has improved a lot. But because technology has improved so much, I think we were able to really get pretty close to the look of that original film, and I'm super proud of what we were able to accomplish with it. And then, coming in fresh, we're introducing a bunch of these new characters, so I had a blast being able to have a hand in deg and developing the looks at some of these new newer characters. So, some of the Doom Syndicate characters, and some of the these other villains, and being able to be part of creating those characters was just a blast.

The Megamind Team Have A Clear Winner For Their Favorite Doom Syndicate Member

Lord Nighty Knight holding a fishbowl in Megamind Rules

I did actually want to touch on the Doom Syndicate with all three of you. I think they're such a fun group to battle Megamind. My personal favorite is Nighty-Knight, one, because of the irony of his name, but also because he's got that Batman-style quality that just killed me. Let's start with Eric, then Brent and Alan. Who was your favorite to help develop and bring to life?

Eric Fogel: I think I also am a big Nighty-Knight fan. That was one of the characters that we did invent sort of from scratch. Some of the other Doom Syndicate, there were versions of those that were developed over time, but Nighty-Knight was one that was original. So, sort of figuring him out, and then seeing what Brent and Alan did with capturing his voice, and then having Talon Warburton, son of Patrick Warburton, come in to voice that character, just leant this credibility. He's really funny, and manages to be funny and sort of pathetic at the same time, which is a tough dance, and he pulls it off. It's so entertaining.

Brent Simons: I'm gonna have to agree with Eric. What was great about Nighty-Knight is how he was kind of born out of this collaboration. Initially, there was another character we had in the Doom Syndicate — and the idea of the Doom Syndicate. They were originally in the original movie, and ultimately, we kind of cut them out. But the idea of them were they're these characters who each of the personalities brings out something in Megamind. So, we kind of realized we had two characters who might have been a little just too similar visually.

So, we kind of thought about it, it's like, "Well, what else can we have in there?" And Alan, I went away, and we're like, "Well, what if it's this guy who's just really Emo? He's like a Hot Topic employee a little too into his job, and annoying the other Hot Topic employees." [Chuckles] It kind of changed the whole dynamic, and that came out of these discussions we had with Eric and our other collaborator, JD Ryznar. So, I kind of liked that he was a creation of all of us.

Alan Schoolcraft: I'm gonna change it up, I'm gonna say it's between Lady Doppler and Pierre Pressure. Lady Doppler I like, because she actually is the smartest one, but she's just frustrated because she has to listen to these idiots. But I also liked that she is also a little dumb with not knowing the weather, being a former weather woman. And, of course, Pierre Pressure because I love the name, and was a fan of Marcel Marceau when I was a kid, so he's sort of a reference for that. So I think those are my two favorites.

Doppler might be my second favorite. Since you've mentioned the dumbness in always saying the wrong weather, I'm actually curious about that. Did she actually know what she was conjuring each time, or was she so out of control of her powers that she was actually trying to conjure what she was saying, and just mistakenly conjuring the wrong thing?

Brent Simons: There's a story to be told of what's going on there. But yeah, she is not good at predicting her own weather, so you're gonna find out her and Roxanne have this history.

The Team Know Megamind's Future (Including Future Character Returns)

Megamind walking with Keiko and Chum in Megamind Rules

Since we've kind of talked about building out the universe developing these stories, do you guys have future plans for if this takes off, and DreamWorks is happy with the results that come from this?

Alan Schoolcraft: Yeah, Brent and I and Eric, we've talked about what the future seasons would be. We sort of have a rough roap with how this show would go until the end, so we just need to get that opportunity.

That's exciting. Can you give me any teasers of what we might see in future seasons?

Alan Schoolcraft: No. [Laughs]

Eric Fogel: We're just waiting for the phone call, "Let's make more," and we're ready to go.

So, with talking about new characters, I'm also curious about returning characters. The movie mentioned Titan, but we haven't really heard any mentions of Metro Man, and who knows, maybe it's in the episodes I haven't seen. Have you guys had any talks or considerations about bringing back some of those characters for future stories?

Brent Simons: There may have been some discussions about bringing certain characters back.

Alan Schoolcraft: Maybe you won't be surprised that that does happen. But that's about as far as we can say.

Brent Simons: Fans should be pretty happy if they stay tuned.

Eric Fogel: I think we can say that there may be a tease at the end of episode 8. If you stay through the first batch of episodes, the last scene of episode eight, there's a tease.

About Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate & Megamind Rules!

Megamind’s former villain team, The Doom Syndicate, has returned. Our newly crowned blue hero must now keep up evil appearances until he can assemble his friends (Roxanne, Ol’ Chum, and Keiko) to stop his former evil teammates from launching Metro City to the moon.

Megamind goes from being a supervillain and the scourge of Metro City to a superhero who's learning on the job. He'll be bringing the audience along for the ride, as Megamind's trusty brainbots will be recording everything, making him the world's first superhero influencer.

Both Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate & Megamind Rules! are now streaming on Peacock.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

  • Your Rating

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    Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate
    TV-G
    Animation
    Action
    Adventure
    1.5/10
    Release Date
    March 1, 2024
    Runtime
    83 Minutes
    Director
    Eric Fogel

    Cast

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    WHERE TO WATCH

    Streaming

    Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate is a Peacock original film from director Eric Fogel. Keith Ferguson replaces Will Ferrell as Megamind, who, this time, must stop his former villainous organization from shooting Metro City into the moon.

  • Megamind Rules TV Show Poster

    Your Rating

    Rate Now
    Megamind Rules!
    Animation
    Comedy
    Release Date
    March 1, 2024
    Writers
    Brent Simons, Alan Schoolcraft

    Cast

    See All

    WHERE TO WATCH

    Streaming

    Megamind Rules! is a companion TV series to the Peacock original film Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate. Keith Ferguson voices the titular character, who becomes the world's first superhero influencer as his brain bots record his day-to-day activities at work.