“This has actually been the greatest collaboration I’ve ever had,” says Mayans M.C.
co-creator James of working with The Office co-creator Merchant on the Amazon Prime Video crime caper.
On paper,Elgin JamesandStephen Merchantare total opposites.
‘The Outlaws’ co-creators Elgin James and Stephen Merchant.Michael Kovac/Getty Images
Why was that important to you?
Elgin describes us as what’s your phrase for us, Elgin?
ELGIN JAMES:Like we’re the billboard for our own show.
Clare Perkins and Darren Boyd in ‘The Outlaws’.Amazon Prime
Who’s Mel Gibson and who’s Danny Glover?
That’s the question.
MERCHANT:just don’t make me Mel Gibson.
JAMES:We found out how much we actually had in common and how similar we actually were.
Maybe from the outside, you wouldn’t have thought that.
There were just people that you couldn’t talk to anymore, that you couldn’t relate to anymore.
You had to just jump on a side, so this was pretty healing.
When you first started fleshing out the idea together, how did the concept surrounding the show evolve?
There was the right-wing person, and then there was the left wingers.
and the idea was that you had to pick a lane.
It seemed to us like, what if you get to meet those people and talk to those people?
Everyone has arrived at their particular belief system because of circumstances, because of life stories.
My dad was pro-Brexit; I’m less Brexit-y, but I like my dad.
So there’s some common ground that can be found.
Whether it’s people of color, young men, older women there’s assumptions made.
That was what was interesting to us.
You’re hanging out with the Teamsters, and maybe you have completely different political views from them.
That’s only in the voting booth.
How did your different backgrounds manifest itself as you were creating the characters?
JAMES:Mostly it was just sitting around talking sh–, telling stories.
[Laughs] That you would hide that from other people, you know?
JAMES:Yeah, totally.
It was the whole thing of keeping journals and hiding my books underneath like my mattress.
You could have pornography or something else… [The idea behind the show is] really a suburban crime story in which gritty urbanness infiltrates.
Every writer has their own process.
How do your work styles differ?
JAMES:His terrified me!
I learned so much from that [the story] just keeps coming.
It’s not just that one little drop of blood from the stone.
I’m quite ruthless in that way.
So I’m not precious about it.
What can you tease about season 2?
MERCHANT:Yeah, it’s an old writing adage that we picked up along the way somewhere.
And that’s what we’re doing this season.
If there’s a body in the trunk, it’s not just miraculously gone by the next season.
That was important to us.
Who are your favorite character pairings to write for?
MERCHANT:Well, the Myrna and John [dynamic] is terrific.
That’s my favorite kind of stuff to write.
It’s taking ordinary suburban people and putting them in these extraordinary situations.
JAMES:For me it’s Gabby [Eleanor Tomlinson] and Greg [Merchant].
That’s definitely my favorite, and Eleanor and Stephen just have a great chemistry together.
I could watch them all day.
What were some of the rejected Greg insults that you brainstormed in the writers' room?
MERCHANT:I don’t think there are any rejected ones.
It’s like, “Okay, now insults for Greg!”
And everyone’s like, “Um, tall guy?”
[Laughs] The crueler they are, the better for me.
Have you talked about doing a third season?
MERCHANT:We’ve definitely been thrashing out some ideas for that.
It’s a nice idea, but I really like these characters.
JAMES:Yeah, you fall in love.
MERCHANT:[Laughs heartily]
JAMES:Oh yeah.
MERCHANT:How does an English guy show up in that world?
JAMES:You could be our diversity hire, bro.
We’ll throw that idea around together and figure it out.
[I could play] a documentarian coming from the BBC doing a film about the biker gang.
JAMES:That’s actually a great idea!
It’s the only way I can hang out with my friend.
JAMES:[Laughs] Ah, so good.
MERCHANT:That was the deal we struck with him.
We thought that would be a nice gag.
We found some go-betweens [to contact him].
We didn’t meet him, never spoke to him directly, but he was into the idea.
I think he liked the idea of it only existing within the show.
So, we came in one morning and there it was.
We kept it hidden from everybody for six, seven weeks.
So, it was a real surprise, which is sort of quite rare nowadays, isn’t it?
When I think back, I think he must have been scoping out the set.
Like, if we had looked around there must have been like a street sweeper with a fake beard.
[Laughs]
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