And now we're seated for @david-jenkins.bsky.social at #tnuc who is kicking things off with some sort of .... interpretive dance? Q: How does it feel to have a bunch of feral adults calling you daddy? A: Normal, totally normal. I always knew it would come to this. Q: Did you have any of other historical tidbits that you knew that you wanted to try and pepper in? A: There's only one historical thing for the S3 that I wanted to use - I wanted to work into the book A General History of the Pyrates. My surmise is that it was written by Lucius. Q: A lot of us loved your Bluesky Christmas episode that you wrote. Would you have cast Kevin Bacon in the show? DJ: I saw rumblings of that and it's really moving that it's happening. ( @youonlyframetwice.bsky.social) DJ: I would have tried! I have mutual friends with Kevin Bacon and they said he loved the show. Vincent D'Onofrio, Russell Crowe, and Jeff Goldblum would have all been wonderful on the show. Q: One of the things that all of us love about the show is that it's so rewatchable. Are there jokes that you found in editing? DJ: The worst thing is when you get the first cut of the episode, no matter who directed it, and you're like "ooof that's the show"? It always changes. Shooting is luck. Q: If you could be any character from #OFMD, who would you be? DJ: Evelyn. She's got a leopard, she lost an eye. Q: In S2, Mary Read hints at Edward's old flings. Can you tell us who they were? DJ: I like that she just knew that he had a past and I think that he has a lot of old flings. One of them was Jack. I didn't have someone specific in mind but it did feel like Ed, Jack, Anne, and Mary were a thing. Q: How does it feel to know that you're responsible for this found family [the fandom] coming together? DJ: It's a feeling of great luck that this happened. Q: Samba gave us wonderful S2 BTS - how did you get Rhys out of the pool with his mermaid tail on? DJ: There were a lot of people on hand. Someone hoisted him out. I remember him being wheeled in. We planned that sequence for so long that when we finished it and executed it, I was out. Q: What was your favorite part that surprised you about #OFMD? DJ: My favorite part of S1 is the last three episodes and how they came together. I love S1 but it's really uneven as we tried to find the show. When you're making a show, you try a lot of different types of episodes. DJ: By the end of S1, it had gelled into the comedy with an arc and characters that had actual depth. Those three episodes and how they work together and the starting 2 of the second season, I'm the most proud of those. #ofmd Q: What 5 DVDs would you bring to a desert island but you can't choose Heat. DJ: Butch Cassidy, The Royal Tenenbaums, Midnight Cowboy, There Will Be Blood, Gigli...HEAT I'M BRINGING HEAT Q: What was the most challenging to film logistically? DJ: The most challenging thing to shoot on location was Republic of Pirates in S1Ep3. It was very hot and very big. DJ: The toughest thing we did on set was the ship crash in S2. We had water on the ship and fans and Jacinda Ardern showed up while we were doing it. Q: My favorite character is Buttons. Can you tell us about the inspiration? DJ: Christopher Lloyd (Jim) from Taxi. He's a crazy, weird sea captain who's a little damaged. And I liked that he was the guy who was supposed to be keeping his eye on Stede in the pilot. Q: that relationship between tragedy and comedy is so close - what are your thoughts on that? DJ: I love when a comedy can make you cry but it's not a dramedy. And it's not hard jokes, it's behavioral. If you look at the Office scripts, there are no hard jokes on the page. It's all behavioral. Q: When you're writing the show, did you have specific music in mind as you were writing? DJ: The 2 music drops that were scripted in S1 were The Chain and Miles from Nowhere and in S2 it was This Women's Work. Those I tried to script beat for beat but you can't force it. #ofmd Q: Where there other pirates you would have liked to include? DJ: It's about who's available and who might be fun to come and play. I always knew I wanted Rachel House and I knew Rhys was working with Minnie Driver right before we started shooting. When those things line up, that's the best. Q: In S1, Izzy gets hit in the face with a sandwich. In S2, it's Lucius. Who will it be in S3? DJ: We don't know. The sandwich gods are fickle. The Lucius one wasn't supposed to happen. Q: Why is the pig called Ruthie? DJ: I don't remember...we just thought it was funny in the room. I thought it would be funny if this guy had a mysterious animal. Q: Is there a scene that fans latched onto that you weren't expecting? DJ: I liked that people liked room people as much. It's something we added on the fly because there wasn't enough for Joel and Kristian. They're such a fun flavor together on camera. Q: Who do you relate to the most? DJ: Izzy. Izzy's a showrunner. He's the frustrated middle manager. Frenchie too. Q: "To love the sea as she must be loved, requires change." DJ: That's a good line, it's almost like the showrunner would write a line like that. How do you tie together a man turning into a bird and why does Ed need to be the one to witness this? "The whole show is about change. S1 is about Stede's midlife crisis and S2 is about Ed's midlife crisis and they both have to change in order to love and be loved." - @david-jenkins.bsky.social #ofmd Q: Why does Merstede have a trident? DJ: If you're going to become a mythical creature in a romantic way, why not have a trident? Q: Were there any cast members that had talents that you wanted to include that you didn't get a chance to? DJ: Joel Fry being a virtuoso musician was something I'd wish I'd known sooner. He's so good and then he writes the lyrics and they're great! Q: Do you have a movie that you thought you were going to like but hated? DJ: Hate is a strong word. If something makes me have such a strong reaction that I hate it, I'm intrigued. If it pushed my buttons so much that I hate it, it did something. So what is it doing well that is making me hate it? Q: When you first learned about Blackbeard and Stede, what is the first scene you came up with? DJ: The scene with the closet - it was one of the first things I wrote. Rhys sells the moment where he finds out that Ed is Blackbeard. That's Rhys Darby being a straight-up genius. Q: Stede describes himself in S1 as being a clotheshorse. What was the inspiration behind that? DJ: It's the one thing you can take from the actual Stede Bonnet. I liked the idea that he custom built the ship - what would a precocious, slightly queer 15 year old design as pirate ship? DJ: Christine Wada killed the first season. Gypsy killed the second season. They're both unique and play with each other very nicely. DJ: I'd make Taika a robot in a space cowboy movie. Rhys would be some kind of space genie - something mythical. Izzy would be the voice of the ship's computer. Q: Have you got a favorite line or episode? DJ: "I think I'm just so-so but I carry myself like I'm cute." I like the last 2 episodes of S1. The scene with Stede and Mary going into the montage where he realizes he's in love with Ed to Lucius being pushed overboard, it's all humming and working. Q: When did you realize the show had such an impact? DJ: When people started making art and responding to other people's art. That was really special. And then the cast was getting excited and inspired by it and the writer's room was getting excited and inspired by it. That doesn't happen. Q: What was it like hearing Izzy say the belonging to something speech for the first time? DJ: [tearing up] It was moving. It was a hard season to make. That is the point of the show. We're here to be part of the crew. We're not here to be captain, which is the growth of Izzy. #ofmd Q: How did you go about building in representation for women? DJ: It was clear halfway through the first season that this was a lot of dick. Seeing people's reactions between seasons, it was a lot of dudes. How do we vary it? And that's it for live panels today! Catch us here bright and early tomorrow for more fun!