We recently had a chat with author Max Brallier about the creation of his massively successful book series The Last Kids On Earth and its animation adaptation on Netflix, which debuts its second season this Friday, April 17th. Max discusses how he came up with the original idea for the series, what his key influences were and how it became an animated series on Netflix from Atomic Cartoons. Max also talks about meeting Mark Hamill and Bruce Campbell for season 2 and what the future holds for the book series. Oh, and check out an Unboxing Video of the toys and play sets for The Last Kids On Earth below!
Our readers may not be quite up to speed on Last Kids On Earth. Where did the idea for this come from?
MAX BRALLIER: It started as a book series that was about five years ago now. I’d written other things, just a variety of different stuff and I wanted to do something new and I was sort of in a place where I had to decide if I wanted to make a full-time job of being a writer or not, like, could I do this? I kept trying to write different stuff and it was all really terrible. Then, I had this moment where I was like, I’m gonna try to write the book that I would’ve wanted to read as a kid. Like, I wanted to create something that was for me. I kept going to the bookstore to see what was selling and try to duplicate that and I was so awful at it. Like vampire romance stories, military thrillers and I didn’t know what I was doing at all. So, I was just gonna try to write something that I would’ve liked. As a kid I was obsessed with THE GOONIES and THE SANDLOT and STAND BY ME and stories like that, stories about buddies and adventures. Sort of like the adventures that get kicked off in your own backyard.
My dad’s side of the family is from Pittsburgh and I used to live in Pittsburgh and I was really into George Romero movies at a too-young age and I’d always been into giant monsters like the Rancor [from Return of the Jedi] or the Inter-Dimensional Being in HOWARD THE DUCK. And so, I was just gonna combine zombies with monsters and sort of set this story around a group of friends and characters that hopefully you’d want to be friends with. And also, growing up I had a treehouse in my backyard and that was really awesome for me, I loved it. It felt like Endor. So, I wanted to put a treehouse in the center and put things around that. I combined a bunch of stuff that I loved; gadgets and vehicles and zombies and giant monsters and a good group of buddies. Then, I was like “now what?” And, then I made it the end of the world because I didn’t want to deal with writing parents and bedtimes and cellphones and things like that. So, that’s kinda where it came from.
How many books is the series up to now?
MB: It’s five books now. There’s five in the main series and yesterday was the launch date for the new book that’s a side quest that just focuses on the June character, as she gets separated from the main gang. It’s called “The Last Kids On Earth: June’s Wild Flight” and that just came out yesterday. So, there’s now five main books in the series, but there’s actually six total plus an activity book. An activity book/guide to the world. I used to love the books with cross-sections, like the Death Star or behind-the-scenes of all the James Bond gadgets, so we sort of created something like that for the Last Kids On Earth series. Right now book six in the series is being illustrated and I’m writing book seven now.
So, what went into the thought process in having them illustrated?
MB: You know, I sort of weirdly found myself writing books when I grew up loving movies. I started writing movie reviews when I was in the sixth grade for my local paper, so my mom really encouraged me. So, I used to go to movies all the time and I was really obsessed with movies and that’s what I always wanted to do was write movies. And then through life twists and turns I ended up working in book publishing and doing marketing stuff. And I figured if I wrote a book I have friends down the hall who I could share this with. And that’s how I got into writing books. But, I’ve always been much more visual in terms of when I write, what I see in my head. It felt natural to me to have something that’s very visual, but also dialogue heavy as I really like writing dialogue so it sort of made sense to do something that was heavily illustrated but felt like a novel, a middle-grade novel.
At the time that I started writing this Wimpy Kid was out, Dork Diaries was out, Big Nate was out and I started reading those and I really enjoyed them, but they’re all sort of set in a non-fantastical world. Like, they’re about middle-school life or they’re really funny or about friendship or they’re very comic heavy. And I was asking myself would it be possible to tell a more fantastic, adventure story using that format, but still using gags and stuff in the illustrations, but also using illustrations to show cool action moments and stuff like that. So, that was part of the idea behind the format; could it be used to tell an adventure not just an everyday funny life story?
The books have now moved on to animation, which is a big leap from page to screen. How did that happen?
MB: It’s been really wonderful. I’ve been really lucky that I’ve been able to stay really involved, that was an important thing to me. I got an e-mail out of the blue from Atomic Cartoons, they’re the production company that makes The Last Kids On Earth animated series and they read the book sand wanted to talk about optioning them. And, I’d had things optioned in the past and nothing ever came of it, so I was like, sure, why not have a conversation? We sat down and chatted with them and really clicked and put together a pitch that was based really closely around the first book and to take Douglas Holgate’s illustrations and keep the look and feel of the book series and help translate it and bring it to life in full color in a big, epic animated way. We took it around and then with Netflix everything clicked and they loved it and then from there we were very quickly off to the races. So now we have one 60-minute special out and then on April 17th what we’re calling book two, which is basically season two, 10 episodes drop.
You have a pretty great voice cast in the regulars, but now you have Mark Hamill, Bruce Campbell, Catherine O’Hara, Rosario Dawson…what’s it like for you to see that kind of cast come together for your show?
MB: I don’t know how to describe-when I found out that Mark Hamill was gonna voice a character on the show I was like, “This can’t be real life”. The whole reason that ever wanted to tell or write and tell stories and fell in love with movies was the original Star Wars. That’s the thing that made me want to do everything. It felt like I was in THE TRUMAN SHOW and someone was screwing with me. It’s just really amazing.
Then, I had this moment where I was like, “Wait a second, I don’t know if I should go to the voice record ‘cause what if he’s a huge jerk or something and I can’t have the original Star Wars ruined for me.”
Sometimes it’s better not to meet your heroes…
MB: Honestly! There’s other stuff I’d be fine with, but if I was no longer able to sit down and watch A NEW HOPE then that would not be okay.
That’s a legit point.
MB: And I was like, “If Bruce Campbell is sort of a jerk that’d be great.” Cause that’s what he’s always playing. He’s Ash! But, if Mark Hamill was not a nice guy that would shatter me. But, then he was really wonderful and he actually read the books and he told me that he wished he had books like this when he was a kid and he was just the kindest and sweetest. It was the best possible outcome and it was just the best day. I sat there with a grin for six hours of recording.
And then Bruce Campbell was not at all a jerk, he was amazing. Everyone was really, really, really cool. And, we’ve gotten all the voice actors we wanted. I think all of our first choices, really, like Catherine O’Hara and, of course, Keith David and I’m sitting there thinking, “Oh man, he’s from THE THING.” This is crazy. It’s been an out-of-body experience and then to see it animated and synced up and everything and I’m like, “Some of these lines are pulled directly from the first and second books and I wrote this seven years ago” and now to hear them speaking those lines is just mind blowing.
Can you see The Last Kids On Earth going to live action or are you happy with animation?
MB: Honestly, I’m happy with where we got with animation. We had a moment maybe four years ago or so where there was some talk of it being adapted for live action. And, in the conversations around that it was really exciting, but there was so much we couldn’t do, we wouldn’t be able to do, things we’d need to change. But, with the animated series we were able to tell it in the right way and not have to make a bunch of sacrifices. I have no interest in doing it in another version without Mark Hamill and Bruce Campbell and Catherine O’Hara. We already got the best version!
And the book story is continuing.
MB: Yeah, the story is continuing. There’s gonna be probably around ten or so when it’s all said and done. I have a vision for the end. I don’t want it to sort of just keep going, I want it to end the right way.
The Last Kids On Earth Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix