Summary

• In Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!, the level one players face impossible odds and are repeatedly killed but brought back to continue the fight.
• The episode stars Mica Burton, Matthew Lillard, Amy Vorpahl, and Kyle Newman, with Jon Ciccolini as the Dungeon Master.
• Beadle & Grimm's co-founders created the show, which features different star-studded casts fighting against impossible odds.

The new episode of Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! takes the premise of the series—level one players doomed to face monsters way beyond their abilities—to the next level. In this episode, our heroes are killed repeatedly and brought back by a god to continue their fight, even as the odds continue to get worse. The episode stars Mica Burton, Matthew Lillard, Amy Vorpahl, and Kyle Newman as the players, with Jon Ciccolini as the Dungeon Master.

Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! was created by the Beadle & Grimm's co-founders, Lillard, Bill Rehor, Jon Ciccolini, Paul Shapiro, and Charlie Rehor. Each episode features a different star-studded cast fighting against impossible odds, with their unexpected heroism shining through. The guest stars include players such as Aabria Iyengar, David Dastmalchian, Sean Gunn, Anjali Bhimani, Patton Oswalt, and many others.

Screen Rant interviewed Kyle Newman about his appearance in Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! He discussed what it was like to repeatedly die, why he wanted his character to be remembered for his defiance, and working with the Beadle & Grimm's team. Newman also shared his thoughts on how Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! stands out from other Dungeons & Dragons series and why so many people connect with the game.

Kyle Newman Talks Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!

Screen Rant: The episode was very fun and I enjoyed how frustrated you all got before every single commercial break.

Kyle Newman: It was one of those things where they tell you you're going to die and you're like, "No, I'm going to be the one that lives." You feel like you can do it, you're going to pull it off. But no, it's definitely not in the cards for anybody. So yeah, we were really into it.

To be fair, you guys also got killed, I think the most of anyone that was on the show.

Kyle Newman: Yeah, and they were like, "You're going to go build a higher level." And then we prepped a lot of different things, so we weren't sure what we were going to be playing, and I thought maybe we were going to be surviving to get to a higher level or something, and then they just kept killing us.

Can you talk to me a little bit about what inspired your character, specifically the decision you made to play cleric, who actively hates their God?

Kyle Newman: I just thought that would be a fun contrast to be burdened with something that is also your greatest ally, and to look at a gift like that as a hindrance. It's just like a reflection. I think when you have magic and you have Gods and you have all this stuff in this world, you could still have a character who's got a cynical point of view on all these wonderful things. You think everyone must be like, "Oh, I'm going to be very pious, and oh, I'm going to be very devout to the source of my magic, whatever."

But there's probably still going to be disgruntled citizens out there that are burdened by this, "All right, I got to pray to you. You're so annoying." It just seemed like a fun contrast and I thought I'd be asking for the help of magic and a God a lot in this type of scenario. So it'd be fun to play somebody with that type of deity relationship and then to have a dysfunctional on with that said deity.

It was so much fun. When you all were bumped up to level 10, did you think, oh, this is our chance? Or was that the moment when you're like, "Oh no, we're in big trouble?"

Kyle Newman: I thought, all right, this is the chance. I was like, "Maybe we're the last episode and we're going to be the one group that survives." So I always felt there was a chance and then as soon as you figure out you're fight, you're like, "Oh God, they're just going to wreck us again." I probably should have went with something like half orc who could have just bounced right back up with some feature and then they would've just killed me again. But at least it would've been like a quick false victory.

I love that. You kind of got that with the fact that you guys kept being brought back to life.

Kyle Newman: We did, but even more if I could have done a zealot barbarian and just messed with them a little more so I could just keep making these saves and surviving, it would've been my second choice is doing something like a half orc zealot barbarian with all these things programmed in to just keep popping back up and not being outright killed. That would've been funny.

Well, hopefully there's a season 2, and you can do that.

Kyle Newman: That's what I'm going to do.

You've been on the other side as well because you're a producer on Heroes' Feast, which I love that show. It's so much fun. Can you talk about your experience with both shows and how that differed for you to be in front of the camera versus a producer?

Kyle Newman: Well, with Heroes' Feast, it was a real passion project because we had written the Heroes' Feast book, and I had always dreamed of it being a show. So I had tried to get it going as a show prior to it all happening and knew that this format could work. So it was great to be on set and filming these episodes, being in them with my co-authors as lore masters, also being a guest on the show. So we got to do a little bit of everything with Heroes' Feast, which was special, and to see them kind of, it's called Heroes' Feast named after our book, to have them promote our book, every episode to give the books away as gifts.

It was a pretty incredible experience on every level. When you create something from nothing and then there's this book out in the world and people discover it and people like it. Then we did a sequel book and now we're working on other Heroes' Feast related stuff. To have it translated into a show with Chef Mike and Sujata, it was just like a dream come true. So it was awesome. Of course, it's always fun to show up on set and have no responsibility other than to just play Purple Worm, that was just a joy too.

I love especially anything with Matthew Lillard. He's just a great guy and a great friend, and anytime he says, "Hey, are you interested in", I just say, "Yes." The teams were the same. The production teams overlapped, the directors, the producers, the crew, and that was also great that they created this little family, made these three shows, used the stage and became a little D&D hub. That was all great to be a part of that.

I love it. That actually is a perfect segue into my next question. Can you talk a little bit about working with the Beadle and Grimm's guys on Faster, Purple Worm?

Kyle Newman: Yeah, so I've met the team, I've known Matt for a bit. I met the team at the Stream of Many Eyes in Los Angeles. We had a booth with Penguin and Ten Speed Press launching and promoting our pre-release on our book, D&D Art & Arcana, which was a book on the history of Dungeons and Dragons. Next to us in this little water deep bazaar that they created, was a booth for Beadle and Grimm's, and they were launching at the same time, their first Platinum Edition box set. So I got to meet all those guys. It was great to see here's a group of friends that played together forever, and here they're doing a company and this venture together.

I was there day one when they introduced Beadle and Grimm's to the world. Then here we are years later, that was 2018, and here we are 2023 and they have a series and I'm a guest on it. So it's a great testament to D&D's community. There's a lot of people that come into the D&D world that become licensees or create products, and they're there because they love D&D and it means something to them. You could tell from minute one when I met those guys that this was a real, Beadle and Grimm's was a passion project. Then here we are years later and they're in the show and they're all helping make the show.

It's branded Beadle and Grimm's and there's all these amazing people that have galvanized around Beadle and Grimm's and the D&D community at large. They're coming on and being guests on these shows, and that's just great. You wouldn't have imagined that 10 years ago. It's a real testament to how the fans have grown the D&D community. The corporate side of things does so much, but fans do it. The companies like Beadle and Grimm's are right there at the forefront of elevating and pushing things along and keeping people together.

Definitely. What do you think they have brought to the actual play space with Faster, Purple Worm that sets them apart from other shows?

Kyle Newman: Fun. There's something really fun about this. There's something unpredictable about it. Having a quick turnaround of cast is probably scary for some people. So the strength of this is the concept. It's that nobody's bigger than getting killed. Everybody's up for grabs and probably no one's going to survive. When you watch a normal streaming D&D theories, actual play, it's about developing familiarity with these people.

It's a slow burn. There's character development and evolution, and that is one way to express D&D, one way to play it. They with this show, showed there's a whole other way to have fun with the mechanics in the game of D&D. It doesn't have to be 900 hour long, 125 episode thing. It could be you get people together, they have fun for an hour and that's what it is. There's so many different ways to play D&D, and it has that one shot vibe.

It's very madcap, bonkers, unpredictable, brutal, hilarious. Those are things that have become synonymous, I think a lot with D&D Fifth Edition. So it's a really good iteration of that. So yeah, I think it is a breath of fresh air in a space where I feel like a lot of the shows all probably feel very similar.

For you as a player, what about this experience set it apart from your other D&D experiences and what do you want to take away into your future projects?

Kyle Newman: I just like the freedom that this was. As constricting as it was, knowing you're going to die, there was just a freedom to try and do and say anything. You can't be precious about your character. You're not waiting for the right moment of dialogue or you're figuring out your character backstory. You're just in there trying to entertain, trying to survive. I like the immediacy of it. It wasn't some long-term plan thing. It was just like, "Go have fun." All the other stuff is there. It can add dimension, but first and foremost, go have fun. I love that's what this game stands for.

It's people getting together, a lot of times you don't know each other and you immediately form a bond. You have to form a bond in five minutes and you immediately form a type of communication between each other, comradery and you're all just trying to survive. I like that, I think that's exciting. It just shows there's another way to go about D&D. I want to bring that to games, even if it's a long campaign. I think bringing some of that immediacy helps, keeps the table alive. It keeps everybody off their phones and focused.

Yeah, that's definitely a difficulty nowadays. One of the things I love about Faster, Purple Worm is that kind of epilogue that we get where every character has kind of their final words after their death. With your character, what stood out to me is you wanted him to be remembered for his defiance. So why was that kind of the aspect of your character that you locked onto after playing them for an hour?

Kyle Newman: I think it resulted from his relationship to his cleric, God. I think it was also the defiance of the way I wanted to be like, "I'm not dying no matter what, I'm not dying." No matter how much the world's telling you this is going to happen or the facts are telling you this or the situation you're faced with, the only thing that he could do was be defiant in that. When you're trying to survive, I think that's what you need. You need a level of defiance. Maybe it's fool party, maybe it's naive, but if that's all you have at your disposal and you're just going to keep going, then the defiance has probably got to become the theme of your life if it's just about survival.

I love that. You've really looked into the history of D&D, you have that book, you have the documentary coming out. What is it to you that Faster, Purple Worm brings to the space that you think almost elevates it in a way where this is something that we haven't really had in the D&D space to the degree that we do now?

Kyle Newman: Well, people have gotten accustomed to and familiar with the three, the two to five hour streaming show. That's not for everybody. I'll watch them. It's hard to watch them religiously because they're so long. But I'll get in, I'll go on runs with different shows and I try and get into it, but it's a really hard thing to sustain. It shouldn't be the only way that D&D is expressed when it comes to actual play. So I think this doesn't have to be a template, but I think it's an example for people to say, "Think outside the box. Make a consumable piece of entertainment that's 30 to 60 minutes, that's akin to formats people are familiar with."

Then you can grow D&D into spaces that you're not expecting because right now, if you're trying to get somebody to go, it's like, "What's a streaming show? Explain it to me." And you're like, "Oh, you watch for four hours." People are going to be like, "What? How do you have time for that?" A lot of people do it in the background or whatever. Some people have to listen to it in podcast form and they do it on 1.25 speed or whatever it is, how do they get through all this stuff? It's a lot of content and that doesn't have to be the only way that D&D and RPGs can be experienced and consumed as entertainment.

So this is a great way, this is a great example for people to say, "You know what? Yeah, here's something that works. They got all these great people on. Every show is exciting. Every show has fun, every show has drama. It fits this cool little hook where everyone's still going to die and you recycle the cast." I just feel like it was a really energetic and fresh template for people who rather go, I can go use D&D to tell another type of story or piece of entertainment. I think that's what they've shown you can do.

I had a total blast coming on, and the energy's all in the right place. It feels like, Whose Line Is It Anyway, or whatever type. There's just a turnaround to it, which is unexpected and unparalleled. I really thought it was a cool hook for a show that then worked. When I got to set, I was like, "Oh, I get it. This is awesome." I wasn't seeing totally what they're saying, but now I get it, why it's going to work. So yeah, I think it's a new entry into what's possible with D&D.

That's so great. I'm curious because basically, you have become such an expert in D&D. What is it about D&D as a storytelling platform that really connects with you compared to other storytelling styles?

Kyle Newman: Well, a lot of storytelling styles, I do screenwriting and other types of writing. Once you start down the road, it's finite. You sit down and you map out your beginning, middle, and end, and you start flushing it out. You have your Christmas tree and you're putting ornaments on your tree, but you know where it's going. With D&D, you find these underpinning ideas and themes or things you want to explore as a character, you're the author of that and you bring that to the table.

Then you go into this space that's collaboration, comradery, it's like a circus of ideas. You're balancing all these different people, everyone gets their chance inside a ring. It's its own new art form where it's not traditional storytelling in any way, yet it still borrows from all the traditional storytelling. So D&D, when it emerged in 1974, evolved into this new American art form, it became a global art form.

I think that's what this collaborative storytelling is. That's what RPGs have become, and it's this extension of war gaming and tabletop and just hanging out. Why we did Heroes' Feast, because you're already sharing the tabletop. You're already spending four hours together, you become a family. You're invariably going to have food, so you might as well have good food, food that's themed to your game. I think it's all those elements, we're all seeking these extra levels of immersion, and we all commit to this philosophy of immersion.

Try to be there with each other and to make the world where co-constructing be as valid and grounded and truthful as possible. So I think that D&D is just a really unique, special game. I hope everyone gets the chance to try it or at least experience and watch it. Watching a show like Faster, Purple Worm, you're going to go, "Oh, that's all it is? I just go have fun. Why were there all these taboos on this game? Why was this game so misunderstood?" When you look at it like that, you realize the farce of it all, about what the game went through and the struggles. But it's its own special, unique thing, it's not like a computer game.

It's truly open-ended, there's no digital barrier to it. Somewhere that you're going to run into, you can do and say and go and experience whatever, and you have that autonomy. That's pretty damn rare in this world and especially in the digital gaming landscape where everything really does force you down a tunnel. You don't realize it, but you're being shepherded into these little places. This is truly open.

About Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!

“Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!” serves up comedic mayhem with tabletop gaming stars and celebrity guest players, including Seth Green, Anjali Bhimani, Skeet Ulrich, Sean Gunn, Mica Burton, Patton Oswalt and series co-creator Matthew Lillard. Perfect for seasoned gamers and newbies alike, every episode features an improvised, stand-alone story along with epic, hilarious character deaths

Check out our other Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! interviews:

• Matthew Lillard
• Bill Rehor, Jon Ciccolini, Charlie Rehor, and Paul Shapiro
• Matthew Lillard and Bill Rehor
• Anjali Bhimani
• Aabria Iyengar & Gina DeVivo
• Deborah Ann Woll
• Jasmine Bhullar
• Matthew Lillard on episode 7
• Alicia Marie
• David Dastmalchian
• Luis Carazo
• Khary Payton

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Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! is on the Dungeons & Dragons Adventures channel on Amazon Freevee and Plex on Thursdays & Saturdays at 6PM PST and 9PM PST. You can also catch up now on Plex.

Source: Screen Rant Plus