The next season of Dead Pixels, about a group of friends who bond over the MMORPG Kingdom Scrolls, is right around the corner.
We love our epic fantasy and sci-fi shows here at WiC, but if you’re looking for a comedic break, consider Dead Pixels, about a group of friends obsessed with the fictional massive multiplayer online role-playing game Kingdom Scrolls. We spoke to series star Will Merrick (Nicky) ahead of the British premiere of the show’s second season on E4 (a U.S. debut will follow) about all things gaming, gender norms in TV, and of course, dogs with overactive libidos.
Winter Is Coming: How much research did you do heading into the show? Are you much of a gamer yourself?
Will Merrick: “I used to be a big gamer; I was gaming a lot until I was about 21. I slowly ended on FIFA, I was playing FIFA for a long time. I haven’t really found it again. I think part of it was, consoles got really expensive. I was always a PlayStation man, but my interests started turning to other things and I started spending my money on other things. I was all about long storyline games, even in games like GTA I was always into the storyline. Games like Uncharted, and Assassin’s Creed, that was me.
“I can’t speak for the rest of the cast, but I played a lot of World of Warcraft as I approached the first season of Dead Pixels. For the second season, I reanimated my account and played WoW again. I think WoW is the closest game to Kingdom Scrolls, which is what we play on the show.”
WiC: Much of the series involves the cast playing Kingdom Scrolls in different rooms. How does that effect filming?
WM: “We’re not actually using the headsets to listen to each other during filming. Alexa (Davies) and I always were at the monitors at the same time, IRL, and she is on the other side of a thin set wall. We shoot those scenes like most of the series; in that flat they live in. We pretty much exist in that flat for the two months that we shoot. We always shoot those monitor scenes at the end of the shooting schedule. Alexa and I spend three or four days with the wall between us, and we can hear each other. We get a very realistic back and forth that way.
“For all the scenes where Alexa and I are gaming, we do all of those in a run. Everyone else comes throughout the run and reads lines off, and then when we are shooting in their flat, we all go to that location and read our lines. It’s so there’s not a risk of like a dry, producer read and so you don’t lose a bit of the camaraderie. Also, it leads to very congruous edit, because you get a very realistic back and forth between two people. There’s nothing worse than two people having a conversation on the phone and the energies don’t match.”
WiC: With such a small, isolated set, care to share any embarrassing stories filming?
WM: “Oh man. David Mumeni, who plays Russell, had a lot of interaction with this dog. And the dog was pretty… energetic? That’s a good way to put it. David was regularly, well, there was some mounting happening during the scenes. The dog was normally really well behaved, but I know David had a lot of close experiences with the dog, probably one more than he wanted.
“The dog is amazing, his trainer has this long stick with a treat on the end. The trainer can make the dog look, wherever he wants to look. So there’s this amazing scene where David is telling this rather emotional story, and at the real tear jerking moment, the dog looks to David’s face, and I couldn’t stop laughing. I had to leave set. The way this dog kept looking at David as he was welling up, and the dog doing the same, I think David was well and truly happy to stop working with that co-star by the end of it.”
WiC: On the rare occasions Meg leaves the flat, it tends to be motivated by her desire to date. What gets Nicky out of the house?
WM: “I think the sequences of events starts with Alison influencing Meg, and encouraging Meg that maybe there’s much more happiness and fulfillment out there if she can spend a few less hours at the computer and a few more out in the world. I think Meg likes the sound of that and gets caught up in that. I personally think that Nicky is pretty responsive to Meg’s behavior. So if Meg’s out, Nicky feels jealous and he goes out. Every step that Meg takes, Nicky wants to be par for the course, on the same level as her. If Meg gets a boyfriend, Nicky has to find some romantic interest.
“I think Nicky would happily spend all his time gaming with Meg, and interacting in the flat, and that would be it. She challenges him, and Nicky feels most secure when they are at the same level. Meg is his teammate, they provide each other with a beautiful sense of safety and camaraderie, but I think that can also be a bit toxic. They really encourage each other to spend as little time out there as possible.”
WiC: Speaking of Alison, how important is her character to the show, as the only non-gamer in the flat?
WM: “She’s totally crucial. Without Alison, you wouldn’t have any other side of the coin. Their behavior, and interests, what drives them, only makes sense when you’re comparing it with Alison. She is the most wonderful character in the series, because she is the counterpart to all of the craziness that Meg and Nicky drag up. Alison is the counterpart to that, and without her there would be no encouragement for them to get out there and try new things. Without that, there would be no journey in the episodes; they would happily just sit there and game. Alison is bringing ideas of the outside world into the flat; things are going on, there are things you can do, Alison has a boyfriend, or a new job. Which all ricochets into the flat, and Nicky thinks, ‘Well maybe I should get a new job, maybe I should see someone.’ Alison is the outside world knocking on the bedroom door every day.”
WiC: As a performer, do you enjoy how Dead Pixels plays with gender norms?
WM: “I love it. That was one the things that turned me on to the first season when I read the scripts. Meg’s character wonderfully subverts that cliche that you always have this sort of hyper sexualized male character. On most things, the guy is usually completely focused on sex, and Meg is actually really sexually alive on the show. Meg is always coming out with the crude, hyper detailed metaphors on how her libido is going that day.
“I always found Nicky to be pretty asexual to be honest. I think there’s some in game stuff that is connected to Nicky’s arousal; he has some sexual connection to elements of gaming. I think Nicky has sexual interest to people in the game, but I think that might be his thing. I think it’s a very different thing for Nicky to be intimate with someone physically, or even just close to someone in the real world. It’s just such a huge obstacle course for him, the nerves, and the apprehension sort of overwhelm him more often than not. Nicky would much rather avoid that anxiety as much as possible.
“Nicky is happy to sort of happy to let those opportunities slide by. I don’t think Nicky is particularly remorseful or mournful that he misses them. They are complications that Nicky is happy to watch sail by.”
WiC: The show also uses the game as a metaphor for what’s happening in the characters’ personal lives. Do you think the game has a positive effect on their lives?
WM: “I think the great thing about Dead Pixels, is that the game is a positive element of their lives. They see it as spending time outside of their life when they have to go to work, and go to the bus station, and the supermarket. And then they get to come back to the world they feel most comfortable in, the world they understand the most, and that they get the most from. That’s the beauty of Dead Pixels; it really champions this band of friends. They are more on the extreme side of exploring the beauty of escapism through gaming, they really devote hard hours to it.
“The show really balances it, not everything goes well with the amount of time they spend in the game. It isn’t totally healthy, there are a lot of unhealthy things. I think elements of their mental health are affected by how much time they spend in the game. It’s not so much a fear of the outside world that keeps them in, they are less hiding and it’s more the game is where they can really spread their wings, stretch their muscles. That’s where they feel most at home. Everything else is a series of obstacles that need to be done to get back to the game.”
WiC: Throughout season 1, Meg and Nicky playfully mention their “arc” and how they won’t end up together. What do you think of their arc?
WM: “I think the arc is really good. There really isn’t anyone else for them, they are far too socially awkward to be able to handle anything, especially together, that would look like a normal 21st century romantic relationship. It would be a very weird experience to watch them dating, and I think the show brilliantly explores the romance between the characters. Any sort of physical act or affection is in game, it happens in the game. They have sex, but in the game, they get married, but in the game. Their love for each other, and it is a love, is very weird, and I don’t think either one of them has any capacity to work it out. It’s all wrapped with up with this love of the game, and the love of what they do together. It’s match made in heaven, but it’s very much tied to this experience that they log on to every day. I’m really into how the show explores that. Season 2 does a lot more of that.”
WiC: What should the fans expect from season 2?
WM: “Season 2 starts with the expansion pack of the game landing. Gamers will totally understand, but for everyone else, it’s a game that’s already in place and the creators have come back and added more content. There’s loads of updates, the graphics are a lot better, new missions and new characters. It’s an add on.
“Basically, at the start of season 2, this expansion pack lands and in the eight months since season 1, the game has become really popular. It’s been caught by this sort of Tik Tok crowd, there are lot of people on the game who aren’t there for the game, who aren’t there for the mythology, the adventure. They are all kind of there to make memes out of the game; it’s become very main stream.
“So season 2, a lot of it is about Meg, Nicky and Usman taking the game back for themselves. Retaking ownership for the players, the hardcore players who make the game what it is, who are invested in every element of it. Rather than, all these kids who are just glitch trolling, they are finding glitches and recording themselves in the glitches. Meg and Nicky are trying to get everyone back into the wholesomeness, and the truth of the game.”
Here’s wishing Meg, Nicky, Usman and Russell luck in their quest to reclaim Kingdom Scrolls. Season 2 of Dead Pixels debuts January 26 on E4, with a US debut to follow on The CW.
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