March 7, 2026

Kurt & Wyatt Russell discuss Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

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The Monsterverse is getting even bigger - and more personal. Kurt and Wyatt Russell join to discuss Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

In this episode of Pop Culture Weekly, Kyle McMahon goes inside Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season two with the people bringing the world of Titans to life. First, producer Tory Tunnell joins Kyle to break down how the series expands Legendary’s Monsterverse for television while still keeping the human story at the center. From dual timelines to emotional consequences, she explains why Monarch isn’t just about giant monsters.

Then Kyle sits down with stars Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, and Joe Tippett to talk about stepping into a franchise filled with Godzilla-sized expectations and how the show balances spectacle with character.

Finally, Kyle is joined by Hollywood legend Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt Russell, who share what it’s like playing the same character across two timelines and why the Monsterverse still has new stories to tell.

If you dig the show, subscribe, rate, and share - and tell your friend who's always stealing your streaming passwords.

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In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, It's all about Monarch.

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It's all about Monarch Legacy of Monsters with Wyatt Russell

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and Kurt Russell.

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Let's go Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon

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from my Heart Radio your pop culture news, views, reviews

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and celebrity interviews on all the movies, TV, music and

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pop culture u CRABE Weekly. Here's Kyle McMahon.

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Nerd No No Nerd Nerd, Hello and welcome to pop

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Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon. I of course am Kyle McMahon,

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and today we are going inside the monster Verse. I've

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got Wyatt Russell and Kurt Russell joining me to talk

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about season two of Monarch Legacy of Monsters on Apple TV. Yes,

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actual Russell family chaos on screen, off screen, and possibly

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in between. We talk Lego, we talk giant monsters, we

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talk what it's like working together as father and son

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inside of franchise built on literal Godzilla sized mythology, and

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trust me, they don't disappoint. And not only am I

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talking with Kurt and Wyatt Russell, but I'm talking to

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producer Tory Tunnell and co stars Ana. So why Kirsey

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Clemens and Joe Tippett all about this universe, this monster verse,

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and why it works on TV. You know, we know

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it works on the big screen, look at the box

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office numbers. But this works as a series too, and

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I find that fascinating. I believe it's because it's more personal,

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you know, it's it can get deeper into the weeds

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if you will. So great episode today, quicker reminder. If

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you want extended interviews, deep dives, breakdowns, reviews that go

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way beyond what we do here, because you know, I

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don't want to take hours and hours of your time everyday,

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head on over to my YouTube channel, pop Culture Weekly.

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You've got full interviews, a ton of video exclusives, film

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and music analysis, and yes, occasionally me ranting about things

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Hollywood absolutely should have asked me about. First obviously, just

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search pop Culture Weekly on YouTube and hit subscribe. All right,

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so I want to zoom out for a minute, because

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giant cinematic universes don't just happen. They really are built

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carefully and strategically, and sometimes under intense pressure from you know,

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people like me, fanboys who will absolutely notice if a

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single timeline detail doesn't line up. So joining me now

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is Monarch Legacy of Monsters producer Tory Tunnel. Tory and

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I talk about expanding the monster verse for television, balancing

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human drama with you know, these giant blockbuster scale and

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how season two raises the stakes without losing the emotional

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core that made season one resonate with people. It really

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was so good. Yes, we love monsters, but if we

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don't care about the humans, it's just very expensive stomping,

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which you know isn't necessarily a bad thing, but that's

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not what Monarch does. So here she is. Tory Sunnel,

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thank you so much, Story for joining me. I appreciate it.

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Thank you.

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So tell me what drew you to Monarch. You know

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you're an executive producer. Why was this something that you

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were like, I want to do that series.

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I think what's been so exciting to us from the

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jump is that you get to have this collision in

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television of absolutely magnificent theatrical spectacle. But we also got

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to do a deep dive on these character driven stories,

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and I think that that's something that hadn't been done before.

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And when you're looking, we had such an incredible depth

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of cannon and so many wonderful movies from the Toho

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to the legendary films. You can't compete with them. They're amazing.

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And so what we got to do is how do

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we do it from the inside out? How do we

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tell these character driven stories in a world where monsters

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are real? And it's always fun for us to have

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those challenges and we you know, at Safe As Pictures,

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we've had a lot of experience in doing these big

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temple features and being able to channel that in a

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really character driven world was incredibly fun.

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I love that. And you know, you bring up a

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really great point that so many of the you know,

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these films are such big blockbuster you know, but in

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a two hour film, how much can you really get

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into the nitty gritty and you can on you know,

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a series. So the other thing that I think is

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really interesting is the dual kind of timeline thing. How

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did that come about?

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I love that, Thank you.

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We had a lot of fun with that, and part

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of it is being able to give the context, you know,

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the question you see in the later movies. You you know,

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everyone is outfit with monarch logos, monarch suitcases. You know,

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how did this organization become well funded?

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Who are they?

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Where did it all start, and we love the idea

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of being able to look back and imagine what that

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may have looked like, and also not doing it from

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just a historical perspective, but really thinking about the fact

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that humans are messy, humans have you know, interpersonal issues,

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and what does it look like to be the birth

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of an organization where you have real human emotions and

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different wants and needs and different you know, interpersonal dynamics,

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And to be able to then carry those same characters

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into our present day and be able to sort of

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see how does someone grow over time? And you know,

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if you've had a chance to see season one, we

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also get to see that you have a little bit

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of the Rip van Winkle experience with a couple of

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our characters who have been able to jump through time

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by by missing out through time dilation. That gives us

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all kinds of meaty storylines to be able to chase.

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That makes it incredibly fun and fresh.

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And finally, for you, you know, with season two, it

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really expands you know, everything even further. Were what were

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the beats that you wanted to like when you were like,

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we're doing season two, what was your kind of overall

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theme that you wanted to hit well.

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We talked a lot about the fact that audiences really

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responded to this story that you know, they came for Godzilla,

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they came for Kurt Russell, and they were delighted with

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what they got from those stories, but they also really

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responded to this idea of seeing this smaller, intimate story

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about this man who had two families and why did

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he have two families? And we felt like, let's let's

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continue to look at that. We have this title Legacy

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of Monsters, and we always talk about the fact that

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sometimes a monster in our show is three hundred feet tall.

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Sometimes it's a person saying next to you. And you know,

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with that two timeline, we're able to really look at

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choices that are made and what the consequences of those

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choices are, and how monsters in our own life are

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created and sometimes are we responsible for them? And sometimes

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are we the monster? And those are all sort of thematically.

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We look at hurt people, hurt people, and we look

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at that idea of who is the monster in our

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own life, and we all that's part of where we land.

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I love it and I think you've done that and

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more with season two. Thank you so much. To where

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I really appreciate it. Thank you, ton.

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My.

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Thanks to her for that behind the scenes insight. It's

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always fascinating I think to hear how something this massive

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comes together, you know what I mean, movies series, How

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do you translate that and make it good still and

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make people care? And I think Tory and the crew

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has really done a good job of that. Now, Monarch

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isn't just about secret agencies and legacy families. It's about

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the people caught in the blast radius of a world

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that suddenly includes these Titans, and in season two, those

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emotional consequences hit even so I speak with Anna Sohi,

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Kirsey Clemens, and Joe Tippett, who bring heart, vulnerability, and

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grounded intensity to a universe that could easily get lost.

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In Spectacle, we talk about stepping into you know, this

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already established monster verse that we've seen on the big screen,

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finding humanity inside large scale chaos, and what audiences can

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expect as their characters evolve this season, because surviving a

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monster attack is one thing, but living with it that

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is something else. Entirely here they are Annasahi, Karsey Clemens,

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and Joe Tippett.

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Thank you all for joining me. I really appreciate it. Hi, Hi,

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nice meeting you. So.

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First of all, congratulations on season two. I love that

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it continues to explore this world that I love being

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in so much. One of the reasons that I think

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I love Monarch so much is that it is it

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allows this chance to dive deeper into stories that we

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might not have been able to in the films. I

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wonder if that was what drew any of you to it.

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I think for me, I was looking to do something

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that was quite fun and where I could laugh on

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set because I had just come off a very serious

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show and so that was my introduction to it. But

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it's always nice doing TV because you do have so

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much time to explore the characters and to tell their stories.

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Especially coming back this season was like we knew each

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other like family, and then to you know, expand even more.

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That's always exciting.

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Yeah, totally.

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I feel like the show, as I've said, it's like

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a Goldilocks show for an actor, because the scenes are

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like there's meat on the bones. It's like there are

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real relationships and real character arts and stuff like that.

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But then you also get to do all the fun

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stuff like getting buried in sand, and jumping and getting thrown. Yeah,

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it's like a little a little bit of both.

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You get dessert and andre.

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I love that.

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How about for you here?

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What was the question again?

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Uh?

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What what was it? The diving?

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Oh yeah, the movie? Yeah, uh, I dove in to

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the world because of the show. The Uh that was I'm.

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Answering the question, right, Yeah was it you all didn't.

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Y'all gonna track a little bit?

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No?

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I was.

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I mean I had seen, Uh, I knew the world,

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but the show is what allowed me to really and

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there was a way to become a fan, I suppose,

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because it's not necessarily a genre for me to seek

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out on my own. What he doesn't believe I'm making

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it all up. I know im No, it's the truth.

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No, it's a human story that we get to really

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develop in the show.

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So it's but those those first like those first scripts

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were like really really good.

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I feel like reading those was like, oh, this is

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like it's something different, So like, yeah, I think from

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the jump it.

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Was like, oh this feels different.

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Yeah.

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Yeah. When I watched that the first episode of season one,

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I was like, holy crap, this is like something we

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haven't seen before. Because I don't really know of you know,

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another project that has had these big, huge, successful movies

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and then done a show taking place in the world

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that gives so much character development and it's just as

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big as the movies.

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You know.

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It's not like it's not like it's ignoring the Titans,

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you know, and I mean it really just goes there both,

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you know, in spectacle and story so.

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Ye and then Sean the FX guys and legendary and

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everybody get in mind the show of the Plant because

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it looks cinema like it's the same same Titans from

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from the movies.

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Yeah, for season two, as you all you know, you

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hear season two is coming and you start reading the

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screw did you is there like some fan bling that

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you get as you were like, oh, I can't wait

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to see what happens and you know that sort of thing,

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or are you like, Okay, no, this was you know,

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my next project and I'm going to like, how how

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does that work for the three of you for this show?

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In season two? When you were reading the script, oh,

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I don't know, I feel like I was just excited

228
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to see these guys like because of the like, uh,

229
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the camaraderie of the cast.

230
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I think, so it was just nice to be back

231
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like on set with everybody. But as far as you

232
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know how the thing is unfolding, sometimes it's like the

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we're not far enough ahead in the writing. So but

234
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so it's just like you're waiting for the scripts to

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come in. So yeah, there is a lot of anticipation

236
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of like, I can't wait to see what happens, but

237
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sometimes it takes longer than you wanted to.

238
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But I think when we were reading the scripts, I

239
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was really excited when I saw it like Gotza or

240
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can Call, like all these monsters that we know. It

241
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was like, oh my gosh, they're going to show up

242
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like this. And then sometimes it'll be a completely new

243
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character that I'm like, I have no idea what this

244
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is going to look like, and then we look at

245
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a board or the previous and get really excited looking

246
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at Yeah, what it's gonna be.

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That was a better answer. Use her answer. What do

248
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you think people will take from season two?

249
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They take from season two?

250
00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:30.919
Oh?

251
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I think a big theme is consequences. We were uncovering

252
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a lot of secrets and we see what people have

253
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chosen and how that affects the characters. In the modern

254
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world and it's like, Wow, there's a lot has been sacrificed,

255
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a lot has been they you know, a lot of

256
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characters have made mistakes and it's affected a lot of

257
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loved ones. I don't know, like it's it's quite hard

258
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breaking sometimes. Yeah.

259
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I think on the micro level, like the the deepening

260
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of the characters, I think they'll take away. And on

261
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the macro level, I think it is sort of like

262
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what do you do when there's an existential threat? And

263
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there are really great competing ideas that have been posited

264
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by the show, So I think it'll be interesting to

265
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see if there are like team do this and team

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do that.

267
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Yeah, yeah, I like that.

268
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Finally, what if if there were Titans in our world?

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Where do you think?

270
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What would you do?

271
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Would you be hiding.

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Something you run buddy?

273
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I mean, I mean, would you like, do you have

274
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like a like a what do they call it a

275
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bug out plant or whatever? Like you would you know,

276
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go to some cabin in Montana or something I'm finding.

277
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Like a bunker.

278
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Yeah, I'm hiding in the closet exactly.

279
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Drinking all the moonshine in my bug out back.

280
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That moonshine.

281
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I don't know what I'm minding the closet, I guess.

282
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Thank you all so much. I really appreciate it.

283
00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:09.879
I can't wait for everybody to see Monarch Legacy a

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Monster season two on Apple. Thank you, Na, Kirsy and Joe.

285
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Season two of Monarch Legacy of Monsters continues to expand

286
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the Monster Verse in ways that feel bigger but also smaller,

287
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you know, more personal, and that balance, I believe is

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what makes Monarch work. And speaking of Legacy, when we

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come back from this quick break, I'm going to be

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talking to the Russells, Kurt Russell, Wyatt Russell back here

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in sixty All right, let's talk about monsters. If you're

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not watching Monarch Legacy of Monsters yet, here's your quick primer.

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It expands. Let there is Monster Verse, you know, the

294
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same universe as Godzilla and Kang, but instead of just

295
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city smashing spectacle, which there is plenty of, it also

296
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focuses on the people. So Monarch is the shadow organization

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tracking these Titans, who are those ancient massive creatures wreaking

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havoc on our planet. Season one gave us dual timelines

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and family secrets and the emotional fallout of living in

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a world where skyscrapers can be stepped on. And season two,

301
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these stakes get even bigger, the mythology deepens and the

302
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Russell family boys become even more central to the story.

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Kurt and Wyat are playing the same character, but in

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two different timelines, in two different you know, two different ages.

305
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So the show isn't just about the monsters. It's about legacy,

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it's about time, it's about love and fear, and it's

307
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about what happens when the world changes and you're left

308
00:17:03.360 --> 00:17:06.519
trying to make sense of it, which is why it

309
00:17:06.599 --> 00:17:10.240
makes so much sense that I have Wyatt and Kurt

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Russell joining. They are legacy, you know, Kurt Russell from

311
00:17:14.599 --> 00:17:18.240
everything from Escape from New York to Tombstone to the

312
00:17:18.279 --> 00:17:23.559
Thing and basically half of modern genre cinema. And Wyatt Russell,

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00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:26.440
who has built a career that's completely his own, from

314
00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:30.200
playing Captain America in the Marvel Universe, the Falcon and

315
00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:34.240
Winter Soldier to Under the Banner of Heaven, which was amazing,

316
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and I talked to that cast show linked to that

317
00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:41.319
show in the show notes, and he's now continuing the

318
00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:46.000
monster Verse story and monarch legacy of monsters in season

319
00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:52.359
two their characters journey their character's character. I don't know

320
00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:54.720
how to say it when they're both playing the same character,

321
00:17:54.759 --> 00:17:59.599
but the journey deepens in ways that are epic and

322
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.160
pretty personal. So, you know, I had to ask them

323
00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:05.200
what it's like exploring a legacy on a show about

324
00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:08.799
monsters when you're literally father and son. How can you

325
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get more legacy than that? So here they are, Kurt

326
00:18:13.079 --> 00:18:20.480
and Wyatt Russell the congrats on season two of Monarch.

327
00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:24.640
It's really such an exciting expansion into you know, this

328
00:18:24.759 --> 00:18:29.400
world that in this particular instance, you know, started with

329
00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:32.480
season one. I wonder what drew both of you two

330
00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:37.039
these or this this role, this role, these two roles.

331
00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:39.880
I mean, it's one character, but you know what threw

332
00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:40.400
you to it?

333
00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:42.079
That was it?

334
00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:44.799
I mean, yeah, primarily that was it. It was an

335
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opportunity to do something that we found out later on

336
00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:51.279
no two known actors of Father and Son and played

337
00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:56.400
the same character, one in an earlier era another later area.

338
00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.640
But it was also the opportunity to take a genre

339
00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:02.039
and say, can we you know, can we do something

340
00:19:02.119 --> 00:19:05.039
with this that in our eyes upgraded it to a

341
00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:07.720
what if? What if this really happened? If we treat

342
00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:11.039
it that way rather than just sort of, uh, the

343
00:19:11.880 --> 00:19:16.759
really fun of watching uh, two giant beasts, you know,

344
00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:19.640
beat the hell out of each other. And and I

345
00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.960
think that it was that that it was that potential

346
00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:24.119
that also drew me.

347
00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:28.559
Yeah, the chat. It's the challenge of taking something that

348
00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:32.440
in the past has been probably more considered an m

349
00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:37.640
M A fight type entertainment vehicle and turning it into

350
00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:41.240
something that had more depth. That was a fun challenge

351
00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:44.119
to take on. And I think that we responded to

352
00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:45.680
that as well.

353
00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:48.440
I love that, and I wonder if this was for

354
00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:50.599
both of you. But why, I'll start with you. Was

355
00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:53.839
there ever a time during filming or watching you know,

356
00:19:53.960 --> 00:19:56.680
dailies or the finished product where you were like, that's

357
00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:00.279
that's my dad, you know, a great scene or or

358
00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.119
a great moment, And same same for you, Kurt, that

359
00:20:03.160 --> 00:20:07.319
you were like, that's that's my boy.

360
00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:08.119
No.

361
00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:11.880
I look, I think everybody in our family have a

362
00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:16.240
high bar of expectation that you're like that that has

363
00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:19.480
been set for a very long time. So when you

364
00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:23.440
see somebody do something really well, you do have a

365
00:20:23.480 --> 00:20:25.720
sense of pride that like, yeah, you know, we're good

366
00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:27.480
at this, We're good at this we're good at making

367
00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:32.400
this this believable, or you know, there's there's surprises that

368
00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:35.480
you see that you go, oh wow. I didn't think

369
00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:37.759
that was gonna work as well as it did. There's

370
00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:43.839
a scene in this show that I just get excited

371
00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:47.599
for for people to watch other sides of, you know,

372
00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:52.680
for me, for my dad, the humor element that you

373
00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:54.240
don't get you can get to see a ton of.

374
00:20:54.279 --> 00:20:58.039
In season one. There's a scene and I think episode

375
00:20:58.039 --> 00:21:02.599
four that I just had me cracking up because I

376
00:21:02.680 --> 00:21:05.599
know my dad and I know his humor and there's

377
00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:08.039
specific things that I just know are so funny that

378
00:21:08.119 --> 00:21:11.839
don't always come out in every movie because they didn't

379
00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:16.559
allow for it. But in these longer episodes an episodic show,

380
00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:18.599
you do have a room to play with things. And

381
00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:21.720
so that specifically for me, was something that made me

382
00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:24.200
feel really happy because I was like, oh, yeah, he's

383
00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:28.000
really funny and it can be really funny, and so

384
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that seeing that was I loved.

385
00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:31.000
I loved that my.

386
00:21:31.000 --> 00:21:33.799
Experience with it was was firsthand because in the first

387
00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:36.920
season I was able to go on I had a

388
00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:39.880
day off very early on, and why it was working

389
00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:43.720
with a separate crew and it was the first scene

390
00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:46.839
that the character is introduced in and I suddenly realized

391
00:21:46.839 --> 00:21:48.759
when I was there watching it, I was having a

392
00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:51.920
good time watching Why, but then I watched very quickly

393
00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:55.480
my attention turned to what he was doing with the character,

394
00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:59.039
and I kind of suddenly realized, Oh, yeah, he's laying

395
00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:01.240
this thing down. This is what they're first going to see.

396
00:22:01.279 --> 00:22:04.279
I have to I have to match this. I have

397
00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:06.640
to be and I started paying attention to a lot

398
00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:10.519
of different things, and watching him do those things was

399
00:22:10.680 --> 00:22:13.599
really fun. It was like, yeah, he's he's doing this

400
00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:14.720
is Oh yeah, that's a good idea.

401
00:22:14.759 --> 00:22:15.119
That's good.

402
00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:17.480
That's really well done. And I was like, okay, I

403
00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:19.480
I I you know, I don't have to I don't

404
00:22:19.480 --> 00:22:20.240
have to play ball here.

405
00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:21.799
I love that.

406
00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:24.519
I love both of you in this and everything that

407
00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:27.119
you've done. I can't wait for everybody to see Monarch

408
00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:29.720
Legacy Monster season two so I can start talking about

409
00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:30.240
it to people.

410
00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:34.079
Thank you, thank you, yeah, thank you, guys.

411
00:22:34.119 --> 00:22:40.799
Have a good deck. Curt and Wyatt Russell, Why and

412
00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:44.880
Kurt Russell, thank you so much to them for joining me.

413
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:49.200
Season two of Monarch Legacy of Monsters is streaming right now.

414
00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:52.359
On Apple TV. And if you're in the grounded sci

415
00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:57.920
fi with giant monsters and emotional weight and an occasional

416
00:22:58.359 --> 00:23:02.160
skyscraper issue, this series is for you. I really do

417
00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:06.039
love it all right. That's this episode for pop Culture Weekly.

418
00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:09.880
If you've enjoyed the conversation, make sure you're subscribed wherever

419
00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:14.200
you're listening, and again for the video interviews and deep dives,

420
00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:17.119
head to YouTube and search pop Culture Weekly. You can

421
00:23:17.160 --> 00:23:20.200
also follow me on socials at real Kyle McMahon for

422
00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:23.400
you know, all kinds of pop culture stuff, quick hits

423
00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:26.519
and behind the scenes moments from interviews like this one.

424
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:32.079
So until next episode, keep watching, keep questioning, keep celebrating

425
00:23:32.119 --> 00:23:35.680
the stories that shape our culture. I'm Kyle McMahon. This

426
00:23:35.720 --> 00:23:38.319
is pop Culture Weekly. I love you, We.

427
00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:41.680
Thank you for listening to pop Culture Weekly. Here all

428
00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:44.440
the latest at Popcultureweekly, dot.

429
00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:58.000
Com mons, whos mons, wos alone with men? It's so scary,

430
00:23:58.680 --> 00:24:00.640
It's so sky gary?

431
00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:05.359
Which one is more scary? You'll have to tune and

432
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:05.960
see