The Adult Swim sensation finally has a season 2 premiere date and a trailer!
Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primalis one of the truly marvelous TV success stories of the past few years.
The first two episodes will air on Adult Swim before streaming on HBO Max the next day.
Adult Swim/HBO Max
EW is also excited to officially share the trailer for season 2.
Here, he tells EW what’s coming up inPrimaland why the show looks so unique.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The first-season finale seems to promise a massive expansion of the show’s world.
How different is season 2 from what’s come before?
I realized everything we were talking about felt too cliche, too done.
So we broke everything down and restarted, and came up with a direction that is more unique.
That’s the big difference from the first season.
It’s even more emotionally complex.
There’s shock in it.
It’s superHeavy Metalish.
It’s still pulpy, but at its core the character story between Fang and Spear it goes bonkers.
That was the best surprise of the first season.
It wasn’t the violence it was their relationship that people picked up on.
As a filmmaker and storyteller, that’s what you’re most excited about.
Primaldefinitely stands out in the animation landscape.
How gratifying was your Emmy win for Outstanding Animated Program?
It was huge, huge.
You look atwhat we were up against, all the top comedy shows from all the networks.
For us to win, first season, and for an action show?
There’s not even that many action shows to begin with!
I’ve won Emmys in the past, and nothing [felt] different.
With thePrimalwin, I felt like when I started doing meetings, something changed.
Usually I’ll do a meeting and somebody goes, “Hey, we want you to dothis.
What do you think aboutthisproperty?”
This time it’s: “Hey, what doyouwant to do?”
That’s never happened.
Were there any stylistic or production decisions in making it that were different from industry norms?
I think what you’re speaking to is the process of sending something overseas.
They did a great job, and we had amazing people there.
The whole structure of an overseas studio is built on mass and quantity and speed.
What changed forPrimalis we used a small studio, Studio La Cachette in France.
They’re like, “I’ve got this scene of him walking or running.
I’m gonna do something really cool.”
Our whole pipeline is more of a feature on a TV schedule.
I did most of the storyboards, so that took time.
It’s such a small team.
You have shows that have 45 people.
Just on our side, preproduction, I think we had maybe 6.
It’s shocking the way we do it, but this is what we’re used to.
Can you talk about your other upcoming projects?
We have 10 episodes ofUnicorn: Warriors Eternal.
That show is completely different thanPrimal.
Everything in action that I’ve ever wanted to do is inPrimal.
It’s for 12- to 14-year-old Genndy wanting my own kind of Conan show.Unicornis everything I was doing throughDexterandPowerpuffandJack.
That one I’ve been trying to sell it for 12 years.
I’ve never really seen anything like it.
People are gonna go, “Are you crazy doing these things?”
I go, “Look, this is Hollywood.
One day, it’s anything you want to do.
The next day, I can’t get a job.”
I’m still realistic about it.
You know,Unicornwas 18 years trying to get it sold, and nobody wanting to believe in it.
I got all these babies.
Primalseason 2 premieres July 21.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
