Here are some of the best from the early 2000s.
Screen Rant: What was the inspiration behind makingCommon Side Effects?
Steve Hely: Well, Joe and I were interested in a lot of similar themes.
We were talking about a lot of themes.
Joe Bennett: Or disrupt the world.
Steve Hely: Right.
Custom image by Yeider Chacon
Weird little thought experiments are often ways that we talk and engage.
In episode one ofCommon Side Effects, a mushroom is the source of this cure-all medicine.
Why was a mushroom what you decided to go with rather than any other form of medication?
Common Side Effects follows former high school lab partners Marshall and Frances as they uncover a conspiracy involving big pharma and the government, centered on a rare mushroom that could revolutionize medical science.
Joe Bennett: I think because it’s Earth-based and it’s provided by nature.
Especially since Big Pharma is part of this we were thinking of something that is not synthetic.
Steve Hely: Mushrooms are really strange.
They’re really old.
They have weird ways of communicating with each other.
It seems like something that we’ve barely scratched the surface of in terms of our knowledge.
Is Adult Swim where you always sawCommon Side Effectsbeing?
Steve Hely: We went on quite a journey of developing the show.
At one time it was going to be on Amazon, at one time it was going on Max.
We met with FX.
In some ways this is a little different than other Adult Swim shows.
It’s a little more serialized and it’s a little bit more plot-driven.
Hopefully the audience will be ready for that.
I’d say it’s a little bit more of a conspiracy thriller."
Joe, previously you madeScavengers Reign, which is a streaming show.
Joe Bennett: It’s pretty much the same.
For both of these shows, I think that the challenge was to keep the quality high.
But it’s the same fast turnaround.
It’s just a TV schedule, and it can be difficult at times.
But yeah, I’d say for the most part that it’s kind of the same.
Why did you want to stay in the sci-fi genre while going for a more grounded tone?
Joe Bennett: I think a big part of it is the conversations that I’ve had with Steve.
I don’t know that I’d call it sci-fi.
I’d say it’s a little bit more of a conspiracy thriller.
Joe Bennett: There’s a little bit of both.
Steve Hely: Martha Kelly, for instance, we had in mind.
She has this unique style.
Common Side Effects follows former high school lab partners Marshall and Frances as they uncover a conspiracy involving big pharma and the government, centered on a rare mushroom that could revolutionize medical science.
Dave King, the lead, is not best known as an actor.
But we know him very well, and he has an authenticity that we thought we could play with.
We were trying to encourage improvisation and having people say things as naturally as possible.
Joe Bennett: Embracing mistakes.
Steve Hely: Yeah.
We used the odd pauses and laughs and sounds that people make when they’re just riffing.
We would board a lot of the stuff out with scratch records.
It’s hard to get people to be natural, but we did as much as we could.
Based on episode 1,Common Side Effectscould have been live action.
Why do you feel like animation is the correct medium for this story?
Joe Bennett: Wait until you see the other episodes.
Steve Hely: Yeah, we’re pushing into visuals that you wouldn’t be able to do.
Joe Bennett: It would have been a real pain in the ass if it was live action.
Are you planning forCommon Side Effectsto be a miniseries, or do you have plans for future stories?
Joe Bennett: We have plans for the future.
Steve Hely: We’re about to begin some preliminary work on season two.
We hope it goes for a long time.
The half-hour serialized comedic thriller is produced by Bandera and Green Street Pictures.
Check out our otherCommon Side Effectsinterviews:
Common Side Effectsreleases on Adult Swim in 2025.
