Twisted Metal Interviews: Samoa Joe, Stephanie Beatriz, and Thomas Haden Church talk up the explosive adaptation

Based on one of the most BADASS video games of all time, Twisted Metal arrives on Peacock on July 27! Led by Anthony Mackie, he plays a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Today on JoBlo, our very own Eric Walkuski sat down with some of the cast of the series, including the LEGENDARY Sweet Tooth himself, Samoa Joe, as he talked about his love for the games, the preparation for working on a series versus preparing for a wrestling match and playing the iconic Sweet Tooth. We also sat down with Stephanie Beatriz as she talked about working with Anthony Mackie on set, as well as Thomas Haden Church as he talked about the setting of the series and his character and much more!

Based on an original take by Deadpool and Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, this adaptation of the Twisted Metal franchise centers on a motor-mouthed outsider who is offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a trigger-happy car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck.

Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) stars in the series as John Doe, “a smart-ass milkman who talks as fast as he drives. With no memory of his past, John gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make his wish of finding community come true, but only if he can survive an onslaught of savage vehicular combat.” Neve Campbell (Scream) plays a character named Raven, Thomas Haden Church (Wings) is Agent Stone, “a cold and unyielding post-apocalyptic highway patrolman who rules the roads with a silver tongue and a twisted iron fist, prosecuting even the smallest crimes with the harshest of judgements. Agent Stone will stop at nothing to bring law and order back to the Divided States of America, and will kill anyone in his path who defies his power”; and Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) is Quiet, “a ferocious, badass car thief who acts purely on instinct – you couldn’t stop her any more than a manhole could stop a volcano. Coming from a community that oppressed her into silence, Quiet’s wish is to find her place in this dark, chaotic world. But when she becomes clouded by her need for revenge, Quiet forms an unlikely, antagonistic bond with John Doe”.

Also in the cast are Mike Mitchell (The Tomorrow War) and Tahj Vaughans (P-Valley) as buddies Stu and Mike, “the Rosencrantz & Guildenstern of this world, and together often find themselves to be more followers than fighters”; Lou Beatty Jr. (A Million Little Things) as Tommy, “a grizzled and weathered cartographer who knows the dangers of the Wild Midwest”; and Richard Cabral (Mayans M.C.) as Quiet’s overprotective brother Loud. AEW wrestler Joe Seanoa, a.k.a Samoa Joe, plays iconic video game character Sweet Tooth, with Will Arnett (Arrested Development) providing the character’s voice.

Cobra Kai writer Michael Jonathan Smith is the showrunner. Reese and Wernick executive produce the Twisted Metal series alongside director Kitao Sakurai, Smith, Mackie, Arnett, and Marc Forman of Electric Avenue, Jason Spire of Inspire Entertainment, Peter Principato of Artists First, Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan from PlayStation Productions, and Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios. The series is co-produced by Sony Pictures Television, Playstation Productions, and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.