An Interview with Megan Ganz, Co-Creator & Executive Producer of ‘Mythic Quest’

Megan Ganz is a highly accomplished writer and producer that has worked on several iconic shows such as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Modern Family. She also serves as the Co-Creator and Executive Producer of Mythic Quest on Apple TV+, and we were fortunate enough to sit down with Megan to discuss the third season of this wildly popular show.
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John Betancourt: Let’s talk a little bit about what got you into comedy, and why you still love it.

Megan Ganz: I mean, really, what got me into it was my dad. He was a big fan of comedy. And when I was younger, he did the thing, which if you have kids, and you want them to be interested in something, I'll give you a tip, which is what he would do is… he would let me stay up a little bit later some nights and watch something like Married with Children, or Letterman or something that was like probably too old for like, how old I was at the time. And he would say like, “Hey, don't tell your mom about this, like, this is just our little secret.” And I was like, “Great, okay, I love this more than anything else in my entire life, then.” Because it's a secret thing that I share only with one parent, you know? I'm getting away with it. So, it was presented to me from a very young age as that, so I always really loved it. And then I just like, I, I was never a class clown.

Like, I never did it for the attention. And sort of, I think most people that get into comedy, maybe were like a little attention seeking, they wanted to make people laugh. And mine was really more, I really enjoyed the writing of it. I really enjoyed like being alone and like crafting jokes. And I would write my own top 10 lists, or little SNL sketches or things like that. And so, it really wasn't until I almost got to college that I ever did stand up or performed in front of crowds. But I love it. I love hanging around funny people I love… like my favorite thing about my job is just that I get to laugh all day at work. We spend a lot of time not working and just making each other laugh about stupid things. And I honestly don't think I have talents anymore to do anything else. I've been doing comedy for too long, now. If I tried to have a normal job, I just, I don't know, if I'd be able to do it.

John Betancourt: Now something I’ve always loved about Mythic Quest is how the show is always bold and pushing the envelope, especially when it comes to realism. What went into the decision to create stories this season, like ‘Sarian’, that are just so dynamic?

Megan Ganz: Oh, well, you know, I think we've found that the audience really loves it. And so, it's given us the confidence to lean into it. Season One, we were really nervous about “A Dark Quiet Death”, because we thought… it's not particularly light. It's not. It doesn't end funny. It's pretty sad. And, you know, gutting, and we put it out there and the audience overwhelmingly said, “We love this.” And then when we shut down for the pandemic, we made a quarantine episode, and had the same thing again, where we're like, “Oh, man, we have Poppy sobbing in this episode in a scene that's not in any way funny, and is very real and hard to watch in a way and how are people going to like this?” And we put that out and everybody was like, “Oh my god.” So, we realized that like, people were able to hold both tones of the show at the same time.

They loved when the characters were funny and silly and having this sort of workplace comedy banter but then also they liked knowing that these people actually care about each other, and particularly Poppy and Ian, and we realized that people were really invested in that relationship, and that they didn't just want to see them fight all the time, they really needed to be told that their relationship was deeper than that. And we realized that was really the “will they, won't they” relationship of the show, not a romantic one, but that's the one that the audience is hoping works out, in the end. They hope that they end up together at the end of the show. And so, knowing that and that the audience would go there with us, we realized that the end of season two, you know, we set up that they're leaving Mythic Quest and Poppy, I think somewhere she thinks that all of her problems are gonna be fixed when they leave Mythic Quest, any issue she had with Ian was just because he was her boss. And once they set out as equal partners, and it's her game that they're working on, everything is going to be fixed. And then I think that over the course of the season, she's realizing like, “Oh, maybe he wasn't the problem, maybe I'm a bit of the issue, and that I just can't be satisfied with my part of the partnership.” I think what we landed on this year, was that she always was annoyed that she couldn't do what he does.

But what she's not realizing is that if she could do what he does, they wouldn't need each other. And the same is true with him. The only difference is that he has the confidence of saying that in season one, episode one, he says to her, “I can't do what you do. If I could, like that would be great. But I wouldn't, but I wouldn't need you then. And that's why I need you.” And the problem is Poppy needs to like, realize that she has that same issue that she can't do it all herself. She's not a big ideas person, she's a mechanic. And there's nothing wrong with being a mechanic. And if she can just get good with that and realize she's the best damn mechanic in the entire world, then maybe it'll fix their relationship. And I think that's what we're investigating in the third season.

Now, at the end of the season, they don't fix everything, because if they did, we wouldn't have a show anymore. But I think the season three is trying to get them to a place where they both recognize that maybe we both have our own crap that we need to like, sort out. And maybe our journey is to try to help each other with our crap that we need to like, sort out, you know?” So, I think season four will be that will be like, “Hey, look, we're not perfect partners, we realized that, like, are we going to stay together? Are we going to split up? You know, because it's kind of come to that, like we have this kid that we're trying to raise, the game. Are we going to make it work, or aren't we?” But I love that the audience seems to be able to go along with that. And there are a few, you know, there's definitely a few parts of season three, where we're not going for laughs, we're definitely trying to dig at something that is deeper than that. So yeah, I'm glad to hear you say that you enjoy that. That’s great.

John Betancourt: Oh, it is absolutely beautiful. So, shifting gears, the franchise is now growing, thanks to the recent spin-off announcement. With that in mind, what does it mean to you to part of a franchise that is so beloved and is now growing into a collaborative universe?

Megan Ganz: Yeah, it's, I mean, it's awesome. Our Marvel Cinematic Universe has just started, right? (Laughter from Megan and John) No, it's great. It's just, you know, Apple has been so awesome. And they're great supportive partners. And the fact that they not only have enough confidence in the show that they bought two seasons of Mythic Quest, so that we know we're going into a season four next year, but also that they were willing to take a chance on a spinoff because they believed in the creative team so much. And they wanted more of it. And they felt like the fans had an appetite for more of it. And we're really excited about what Mere Mortals can do and the ways that we can have the two shows in form and play off each other so that it'll enrich the viewers experience if they're viewing both, but you know, you don't have to. You can watch one or the other separately, but also just gives us an ability.

We've had so many times where we thought “God, there's so many cool stories about people that play the game, that you could tell.” And the ways in which our characters make these seemingly tiny choices for them that I'm sure every gamer can tell you how obnoxious it is when like a studio makes some random decision that screws up their life and like what they're doing and their connection to the game or changes something or tweak something. You know, they don't like it. And so, I think we realized there's a whole lot of stories to tell that we…. just didn't have time. We only have 10 episodes a season and we just didn't have time to get into that. So, I'm really excited to have that ability to tell those stories.

John Betancourt: Last question I have for you today, what’s the one message or theme you hope audiences take away from this season?

Megan Ganz: Yeah, I think the big message for me this season is that you… you don't have to do everything. you know? Like, just as a woman, I think we're presented a lot of these like, “Girl Boss” archetypes that are just good at everything. And like, that's this feminist thing, which is like, “Oh, yeah, she's, she's just the boss bitch that can do everything. And everybody loves her that she works with”, and like, it just doesn't feel realistic to me. And I love that we're presenting Poppy as a character that is not a good boss. She has one very particular talent, which is she is an amazing programmer. And you know what? She doesn't have to be all the other things, in the same way that Ian has big ideas, but he's not good at the nuts and bolts of it.

And I think like… it's a real love letter to like partnerships and relationships and cooperation and how really no creative endeavor is one person. There's the, you know, myth of one person that's like, you know, responsible for a whole genre is, I think, just a myth. I think there's so many people that go into to that, like, even great directors, you know, that you think their style is just this. They have costume designers, they've got, you know, production designers that help them, like, there's so many people that go into this creative effort. And so, I think like, getting these two big egos to a place where they make space to need somebody else in their life is kind of the message of the whole show.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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