James Gunn Reveals the Wild First Trailer for “Creature Commands”
James Gunn had a lot to share New York Comic Con, and arguably the biggest news also included a fun first trailer. That would be for Gunn’s new-look DC Studios’ animated series Creature Commandos, a seven-episode Max original written and executive produced by Gunn, which tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for the world’s most dangerous missions. These Creature Commandos are “your last, worst option,” according to the series logline.
Taking the stage at the Con on Saturday, Gunn said that Creature Commandos would be “something beyond what any of us expected.”
The Commandos panel included Gunn, fellow executive producer Dean Lorey, and voice cast members David Harbour (Frankenstein), Frank Grill (Rick Flag, Sr.), Steve Agee (Economos), Zoë Chao (Nina Mazursky, and Sean Gunn (GI Robot and Weasel).
Gunn promised that his and Peter Safran’s DC Studios, which they’ve been reimagining and retooling to bring all DC Studios titles into a unified narrative universe, would be unveiling Commandos as a show that was totally “its own thing.” Gunn said the same for the rest of DC’s new slate. “Every single project out of DC Studios is going to be its own thing. We want this to be very different from what Superman is going to be when that comes out,” he said, pointing to Lanterns and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. “It’s a connected universe, but we’re not imposing any overall aesthetic.”
Executive producer Dean Lorey said that the ton of Commandos is more grounded despite the killer cast of oddballs.
We were looking to do something that was sort of grounded, but with some style to it. It’s got a lot of really dark, dark tones. The palettes are really cool. But as you can see, it’s very action-oriented. It sets itself apart from, say, Harley Quinn and those kind of shows. It feels more adult.”
Check out the first trailer for Creature Commandos.
Creature Commandos was already something Gunn was working on before he and Safran took over DC Studios. “It was written when I started as the CEO of DC Studios. I had talked to Max about creating something after Peacemaker did so well. I talked to Peter Girardi about creating an animated series. I like the Creature Commandos. I love monsters. I love Frankenstein, the story of Bride of Frankenstein. It seemed like the perfect thing to do,” he said. “I wrote the scripts without a deal. Then I happened to get hired instead of DC studios, and I am very gracious. Thank you, self.”
There will be lots more characters in Creature Commandos, voiced by some very well-known and beloved figures, both as performers and within the DC Studios world. One of those is Viola Davis, who returns to voice Amanda Waller. “She just grounded it so well, and she’s so incredible in the show,” Gunn said. “She gets a chance to do a little bit of humorous stuff too. Some emotional stuff. She just really brought everything together. I’m so fortunate to have her as a person in my life and in my career.”
That cast also includes Indira Varma, who is on board as Bride of Frankenstein, Alan Tudyk as Doctor Phosphorous, Maria Bakalova as Illana Rostovic, and Anya Chalotra as Circe.
Gunn also joked that Creature Commandos borrows a bit from that ABC classic Lost. “The first episode is you see the team come together, but then every episode after that explores the backstory of one of these characters — not necessarily the origin, in some places, the origin — but just something from their past that we see about how they got to the place where they are today,” he said. “And we get to know these characters in a much more intimate way because of that. I think it’s a really fun way to get to know. You see that some of them are a lot better than maybe we think they are at the beginning of the series, and some of them are even worse.”
The new series arrives on Max on December 5.
For more on all things DC Studios, check out these stories:
Alan Tudyk Has Secret Role in James Gunn’s “Superman”
Batman Supervillains Bane & Deathstroke Getting Their Own Movie at DC Studios
Featured image: Creature Commandos. Courtesy Max/DC.
