Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! is the perfect way for Dungeons & Dragons fans, both new and old, to experience a hilarious adventure like never before. Four new level one adventurers take a stab at being heroes as they face off against a massive threat to their town. As they use all their skills to distract the monster long enough for the townspeople to escape, the heroes will do whatever it takes to succeed, even in the face of impossible odds.
Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! combines everything great about Dungeons & Dragons with tragedy, comedy, grand adventures, and terrifying monsters. The series was created by the founders of Beadle & Grimm’s Matthew Lillard, Bill Rehor, Jon Ciccolini, Paul Shapiro, and Charlie Rehor. The new episode, “Everyone Dies Near a Hole,” stars a hilarious cast of veteran and newer players, including Danielle Perez, Clare Grant, Sean Gunn, Deborah Ann Woll, and Jason Azevedo as the Dungeon Master.
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Screen Rant interviewed Sean Gunn about playing Dungeons & Dragons in Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! He shared how his brother, James, first got him into D&D, what inspired his character, and playing in this new arena of improvisation. Gunn also teased his future in the DC Universe, including what fans can expect from Maxwell Lord, recording Weasel, and the fun to come in Creature Commandos.
Sean Gunn Started Playing Dungeons & Dragons With His Brother James Gunn
Screen Rant: Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! is one of the most fun D&D shows there are and this episode is no exception. You guys were hilarious in this episode, and I love Tomas.
Sean Gunn: Oh, thank you very much. I appreciated doing it. It was a hard fought battle, and obviously we were all vanquished, but it was fun.
That’s how it tends to go with the show. How experienced are you with Dungeons & Dragons, and then how did you get involved in the show?
Sean Gunn: It had been a really long time. I first played Dungeons and Dragons when I was probably, oh my gosh, I don’t, maybe six or seven years old when my brother James started to get into it. My older brothers started to play, and I had no idea what was going on. And I played with them a little bit just for a year or two, and then they kind of got older and I sort of lost interest and didn’t play for a while.
And then when I was in high school, towards the very end of my high school year, so it’s like my senior year when most of our friends were off going to parties and things like that, a group of friends and I kind of got bored with our social scene and started playing D&D a little bit. And so I got back into it. But again, that’s high school and that was a long time ago, and I have not played ever since then.
So there’s so many things that I didn’t remember. The reason I appeared on the show is because Matthew Lillard’s a good friend, and he asked me to do it. And he’s one of those friends you make in Hollywood over the years, you’ve been there a long time, that you trust him. You know he’s a good guy. And he’s somebody who, when he calls me, I answer the phone and if he says, “Hey buddy, I got this fun thing to do.” I say, “Sure, I’m in.”
I love that. And then what were your initial thoughts when you heard that this was a show where all of the characters will die by the end of the episode?
Sean Gunn: Because I’m naturally a little bit competitive, my initial instinct is, “Wait, do we have to die? Isn’t there some way that I can figure it out? Is there some way I can crack this code and miraculously figure out a way to outsmart the game and stay alive?” I was not able to do that, but that’s okay. Honestly, I was a little scared when I first sort of arrived and got there and everyone kind of seemed to know what they were doing, and I was like, “Oh gosh, I really don’t know anything about this.” And so I’m just kind of getting thrown into it.
I always find new players to be the most fun to watch because, while it starts with trepidation, they’re the ones who are going to come up with the most imaginative ideas because they haven’t put the box in their heads of what they should do.
Sean Gunn: I think I was a little, I was trying to take it a little more seriously in some ways, partially just out of vanity, because I didn’t want to come off looking like an idiot.
It worked! It worked well with the dynamic of everyone else just being completely silly.
Sean Gunn: Yeah, good. I appreciate that.
Can you talk to me about creating your character, Tomas, and how maybe knowing he had an endpoint affected your build?
Sean Gunn: Well, first of all, I have to give a shout-out to my cats, Tommy and The Business, because that’s who Tomas Bisbear was named for, my two cats. And so then, of course, the theme of cats came up on the show, which was great. But yeah, I don’t know. I sort of wanted to create the character in a way that felt right. That’s why I chose things that seemed comfortable.
I knew he was going to die because I didn’t want to get too attached too. You know what an interesting thing was, was when you roll up the character, you do it electronically, which was like, Oh, I remember when we were kids, we used to cheat and you can’t cheat anymore. Like, Oh, this is a bad, I accidentally rolled this one, let me roll again when you’re drawing up the character. And I wasn’t able to do that. So I had one tool taken out of my toolbox.
Oh my gosh. I love that you named your character after your cats. That’s my favorite thing I’ve ever heard.
Sean Gunn: Yeah, one of them is right here. Maybe I can get him to make a cameo.
Sean Gunn Talks Playing With Deborah Ann Woll
You’re used to working with a director, a script, usually multiple takes, especially if you’re doing film or TV. How fun was it to jump into a world with just fully improvisational collaborative storytelling where you had to work with everyone else there to keep the story moving?
Sean Gunn: It was fun, but also a little bit daunting. The most experience I’ve had lately, I have a background in theater, but I haven’t done a play in some time. And I feel like the most experience I have with any kind of improvisation is doing interviews like this or these live shows occasionally, being on awards ceremonies or something like that.
My skills needed a little sharpening, and it was nice to watch, before we recorded our episode, I was able to watch the previous episode and watch my friend Seth Green performing and got to see like, “Oh, this is somebody who’s really got this down.” And Matt Lillard himself too, watching those guys like, “Oh, these guys are on top of all this.” And then you want to get in there and also perform for the crowd and stuff like that. So yeah, it was interesting.
Because this is such a condensed show, with it being only 40 something minutes, how do you kind of collaborate with the other players to make sure everyone has a moment to shine, while still also making sure the story continues forward?
Sean Gunn: For the most part, I think that’s just kind of, those are performance skills that you acquire over the years of doing it for a long time. You know when you’re part of an ensemble that’s how that works. Nobody just picks the ball up and runs with it, you have to pass the ball back and forth, so to speak.
So I think that that’s just, I tend to veer less towards, Hey, beforehand, let’s work something out that we’re going to do or some bit we’re going to do or say. Those end up generally tending to fall pretty flat. So I think it’s better to just make sure that you really listen to the other people, you find your spots when they appear, and it’s a give and take.
Can you talk to me about collaborating with the other players, especially Deborah Ann Woll, who just was going full comedy with this one?
Sean Gunn: She’s a bit of a kook and I say that with affection. It was definitely fun, and it did throw me a little bit off from the beginning. Which you can probably tell when you watch the episode because I was like, “Oh, this is full character comedy.” I thought I was still kind of being myself. And so then I’m like, “Okay, well, I’m not going to change what I’m doing,” but now I need, we need to merge here, meet somewhere in the middle. But yeah, no, she was really funny. And again, it’s that kind of thing when we have one person going super character, then that also sort of solidified me being less so because you want balance amongst the cast.
Yes, the balance worked very well. And I have to ask, what inspired your big damn hero moment where you got to jump in and really save the day with that one?
Sean Gunn: Well, I was thinking of that right when I got it. When I got the weapon, I thought of that when I chose the weapon. I’m like, Wait a minute, that means you could jump at something and if you hold onto it when it’s running towards you or something like that, obviously the mouth thing seemed obvious.
So when the monster came in, I was like, “I got to find a way to jump in that thing’s mouth, because I know I’m going to die anyway,” which is why I almost didn’t want, I think that Jason, the DM, I think he started to prod me in that direction and I wanted to be like, “No, no, no, I already thought of this. You don’t have to do it. I want to show you that I’ve come up with this on my own.” But yeah, it seemed like an obvious way to kill something that was borderline unkillable.
I loved it. I loved that the skeleton was still hanging from the rod where it’s such a fun detail.
Sean Gunn: Yeah, probably just for a few heroic seconds before the fingers break and it falls to the ground.
Sean Gunn Teases DC Future Including Creature Commandos & Maxwell Lord
You’ve played a lot of heroic characters and you’re going to with the DC Universe as well. What are you excited to explore with the sheer number of characters you’re going to be playing in the DC Universe with Weasel, GI Robot, Maxwell Lord, and how do you approach these performances differently?
Sean Gunn: It’s true that they’re all in the DC Universe, so there’s that sort of extra element. But as an actor, I’m well-equipped to play a variety of different types of characters. And even me, as a very character actor, I’ve done so many different weird types of things. So it’s like, in addition to those three characters that you mentioned, I have three different independent movies that I’m doing, starting next week and doing over the course of the next few months. So there’s a whole bunch of characters that I’m trying to navigate, all of them.
But for DC in particular, one of the things that makes it easy is that the Creature Commando’s characters are so, well right now they’re animated for Creature Commandos, but even if they were live action, like we’ve seen with Weasel, there’s still CG, they’d be CG characters. GI Robot is also obviously a robot. Weasel, yes, he grunts and things, but it’s mostly about the movement. GI is almost completely about the voice. So they’re a little bit different from one another. And they’re in the kind of far-flung reaches of the character spectrum of the universe.
The other one who, I haven’t really, the other one you mentioned who I’m not sure I can still technically mention publicly, even though obviously the word is out, that there’s there, all I can say is that character is a little bit more grounded in being, a lot more grounded, obviously, as a human being. And so that’s something that’s a character that I’ll tackle in a more traditional way.
I’m so excited for Creature Commandos. You mentioned that Weasel mostly grunts, does that make the voice acting harder?
Sean Gunn: Yeah. I don’t even know how to answer sometimes when it’s harder or easier. I don’t know. It makes it different, I would say that. Weasel isn’t having emotional scenes that require a lot of analysis, but he does do a whole lot of wheezing and panting that requires a lot of water. So whichever one sounds harder to you, I guess I’m not sure whether it’s harder, it’s not quite as fun, but it’s still playing Weasel is a blast.
Oh, I love that. And then shifting back over to the Faster, Purple Worm!, can you talk to me about the live interactive audience element and how that impacted you as a performer?
Sean Gunn: Oh, it was great. It was great. It was absolutely, it’s old school, and it was really smart of them to do that because a lot of shows, particularly shows that are a little more bare bones in their production, and obviously they don’t have some massive production budget to deal with. So it was a really, really smart decision, I think, on the part of the show, to bring in a live audience to watch because the performances just don’t work without it.
It’s hard to understand the texture of the performance without getting input from some kind of source, whether it’s laughter or oohing and aahing or applause or whatever it is. So yeah, that part of it was really cool. And I think, I’m not sure I would’ve been able to, it would’ve been really hard without them there.
Definitely. And then what did you find most surprising about this experience, and is there anything you want to take from it into future projects?
Sean Gunn: Oh, it was super fun. I think that I sort of have touched on some of the things that were most surprising, which are it was a reminder for me of how long it’s been since I’d performed in front of a live audience, and a reminder that those skills are a little bit different than the skills that I’m trying to use when I’m performing on camera. And mostly just how fun it is. That, Oh, yeah, I wanted to get back out there and I don’t know, maybe the show will have me back. We’ll see.
Well, that’s perfect leading into my last question because I’m hoping there’s a second season. If you were able to put together your dream table to play with for a second season, who would it be?
Sean Gunn: I think what would be really, really fun really, honestly, and don’t take this as any sort of a teaser, because I don’t think his schedule would ever allow it, but I would love to play with my brother. I mean, he would be the master at something like that because he’s so good at, his storytelling muscle is pretty buff, and he’s also funny. And we can play off each other really well.
So if I could play with him and any of the group of friends. The longer you’ve known somebody, the easier it is in some ways. And so some of those guys like Matt Lillard and Seth Green, people we’ve known for a long time, that would be an amazing group of people to play with.
About Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!
“Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!” serves up comedic mayhem with tabletop gaming stars and celebrity guest players, including Seth Green, Anjali Bhimani, Skeet Ulrich, Sean Gunn, Mica Burton, Patton Oswalt and series co-creator Matthew Lillard. Perfect for seasoned gamers and newbies alike, every episode features an improvised, stand-alone story along with epic, hilarious character deaths.
Check out our other Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! interviews:
- Matthew Lillard
- Bill Rehor, Jon Ciccolini, Charlie Rehor, and Paul Shapiro
- Matthew Lillard and Bill Rehor
- Anjali Bhimani
- Aabria Iyengar & Gina DeVivo
- Deborah Ann Woll
- Jasmine Bhullar
- Matthew Lillard on episode 7
- Alicia Marie
- David Dastmalchian
- Luis Carazo
- Khary Payton
- Kyle Newman
- Bill Rehor, Jon Ciccolini, Charlie Rehor, and Paul Shapiro on episode 13
- Troy Lavallee
- Skeet Ulrich
Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!
Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! is a comedy series focusing on Dungeons and Dragons. The improv series begins each episode with first-level characters who battle incredibly powerful Dungeons and Dragons monsters. Guest stars on the show include Matthew Lillard, Deborah Ann Woll, and Seth Green.
- Cast
- Deborah Ann Woll , Matthew Lillard , Seth Green , Jon Cellini , Steve Agee , William Rehor , Luis Carazo , Noura Ibrahim , Kate Welch , Lou Wilson , Ify Nwadiwe
- Release Date
- November 1, 2023
- Seasons
- 1
- Franchise(s)
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Directors
- John Platt , Adam Rady , Zach L. Wilson , Mei Wang
