Hulu’s lovable group of alien refugees are declaring war on a human holiday in the Solar Opposites Valentine’s Day Special. The latest holiday special of the adult animated show finds the titular family looking to remove love from the Earth when it affects the menu at their favorite restaurant, only for it to inadvertently cause drastic repercussions for the planet.
Dan Stevens returns to lead the Solar Opposites Valentine’s Day special cast as Korvo alongside Thomas Middleditch as Terry, Sean Giambrone as Yumyulack and Mary Mack as Jesse. Unlike prior holiday specials, the latest episode introduces some major canonical events for the show’s future while also featuring plenty of satirical takes on the holiday and meta gags, including a vocal cameo from Linda Hamilton in the vein of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
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In anticipation of its premiere, Screen Rant interviewed showrunners Mike McMahon and Josh Bycel to discuss the Solar Opposites Valentine’s Day Special, how it sets up season 5, their thoughts on a potential movie based on the show, and more.
Warning: Some SPOILERS lie ahead for the Solar Opposites Valentine’s Day Special!
Mike McMahon & Josh Bycel Talk The Solar Opposites Valentine’s Day Special
Screen Rant: I’m excited to chat with you both again for Solar Opposites. It’s so much fun every time, and the Valentine’s Day special is no different. Now, I love that after four seasons, we almost finally see the Solar-Opposites become actual evil alien invaders instead of just a selfish, quirky sci-fi family. How did you go about landing on the story for this one?
Mike McMahon: Weirdly, we knew we wanted them to get married in this episode, because we knew we wanted it to end with them expressing their love in a really distinct couple way, and that really affects season 5. So, we knew that the stories in season 5 were going to directly spring from this episode. I would even say, if you need to watch them in order, it goes 501, Valentine’s Day Special, 502, is really how it lays out. We take it really seriously from a structural point of view, we have a lot of fun with it, because we’re dealing with what happened at the end of season 4 at the beginning of season 5, right? Them going to another planet.
And for all you nerds out there, you can watch how the Pupa’s color changes throughout the episode that determines where it takes place. But, the other thing is that structurally, what is a Valentine’s Day episode, you know what I mean? Valentine’s Day is the one holiday you can lose, you know what I mean? Like, “Oh, you don’t have a significant other? Then f–k you, Valentine’s Day sucks.” We didn’t really have a favorite Valentine’s Day episode to play off of, so we wanted to do a crazy sci-fi version of it. And I really like in Solar when we do stories that start in one place, and every five minutes turn a crazy corner that you can’t expect coming, like a parrot uprising, and a negative sci-fi future.
And it all kind of started with the inspiration of my wife’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day, and it always f–ks up where we can go to eat, and I hate it. I hate that I can’t take her out to dinner, because everybody has heart-shaped menus, and they’re serving f—-ng pink sausages, and s–t. You can’t just go out and have a regular meal. So, starting with the Solar-Opposites having that same experience, and then seeing where it takes us, knowing that it ends in love, was kind of our guiding light.
Josh Bycel: The only thing I would add is that we’ve always talked about how Mike, from the beginning, has said this is a show written by people who love TV, who celebrate TV, and I really liked the idea of doing a holiday special, which normally, for most TV shows, have always been standalone. Our first two were standalone, and as Mike said, I loved the idea of dropping in something that, pretty much besides from them landing on Earth, is the biggest thing to ever happen to them. I loved dropping that into the end of a holiday special. It felt like a fun treat, and a twist that maybe people didn’t see coming.
It definitely meant a lot to see that ending, and see where Terry and Korvo are now, and I’m excited to see where that goes in season 5. So, you mentioned the sci-fi uprising, and that’s something that I love about this show is that, much like your work on Rick and Morty, it’s very meta in how it approaches a lot of genre stuff. You got Linda Hamilton to do this full monologue recreating Sarah Connor in there. How did you go about approaching Linda for this, and what was her reaction when you approached her?
Mike McMahon: Linda is the coolest person in the world. She’s always been cool, she was cool in action movies, she’s cool to this day, and she’s cool on Resident Alien. Basically, I knew that we wanted to have this big, long sci-fi opening, like Blade Runner over-explanation of events was very funny to me. I remember the studio being like, ‘You can’t do this, it doesn’t feel very Valentine’s Day.”
Josh Bycel: And we did it twice.
Mike McMahon: We did it twice! And we made it pink font, and they were like, “Fine.” And going to Linda Hamilton, it was like, “Listen, we could do this with any voice actor, right?” Somebody could do an important-sounding monologue, but she’s so iconic and so cool that getting her to do it in the sort of T2 style would have added a layer that really made it extra special. We sent her the material, and she thought it was hilarious, that’s really what locked it in. So, getting to do it with her, I almost had to make her make it less funny and more sincere, because she’s naturally very funny, and just getting to do it with her, I kind of couldn’t believe that we pulled it off.
Josh Bycel: It was pretty cool. It was definitely a highlight of all the amazing people we’ve had to have her, because she’s such an iconic sci-fi character, or she plays such an iconic sci-fi character, it was very cool.
I love that. So, you also had the faux Sigourney Weaver in season 2, do you have anybody else on your dream list of sci-fi legends that you hope to have on this show at some point?
Mike McMahon: Oh, man, that’s a good question, we haven’t talked about it. The Queen Alien, I’d love to have The Queen Alien show up and try to kill us. Predator, I’d love to get Predator on the show. Maybe some of the sharks from Deep Blue Sea, have them swim in, Deeper Bluer, the head is like a shark’s fin, that style. It’s hard to pick. Maybe a Gremlin, if we can clear it with legal. [Chuckles] What humans do you want on the show, Josh?
Josh Bycel: It’d be cool to get, thinking of in the Terminator world, Lance Henrickson would be great to get on the show. I more like just the people that are hardcore sci-fi, like it’d be fun to get those kinds of people.
Mike McMahon: Let’s get Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill on the show!
Josh Bycel: Yeah, we gotta get Mark Hamill, he’s an amazing voice actor. But, you know who was also in this is Josh Gad. He plays the parrot. Let’s get Josh Gad in more episodes.
Mike McMahon: We do have a sci-fi legend recurring in The Wall next year that I don’t think we can tell you yet. But he’s one of my heroes of genre movies and plays a recurring lead in this season. It’s a total trip, I can’t wait for you guys to see it.
That’s exciting, I really cannot wait to see the next chapter of The Wall, it gets just crazier and crazier every year.
Mike McMahon: It’s a really cool genre this year, I can’t wait.
So, looking at Solar Opposites season 5, then, how far along are you guys? Can we expect another summer 2024 release?
Mike McMahon: We don’t have a release date yet, but we are plugging along. Obviously, the writers strike and actors strike gave us a little bit of a stunt to get through. But the artists were working away while we were on strike, which we cannot thank them for enough, and things are looking great. We’re seeing color cuts come in for more than halfway through the season. So, I would love to get it out around the same time, but we haven’t figured out a date yet with the network. We drop the whole season at once so that you little freaks and sickos can watch it on one sitting, if you feel like it.
Josh Bycel: And then we have another holiday special for the end of this year, as well.
Mike McMahon: Yeah, we have another holiday special we’re working on, so we have an amazing season 5 coming. The Wall is f—ng cool as hell, the Solar stories are hilarious. We’ve got some Silvercops coming that are going to blow you away.
Josh Bycel: Yeah, it’s a whole new genre base, a whole new storyline, which is amazing.
Mike McMahon: Yeah, I cannot wait and, you know, spoiler alerts, like Terry and Korvo are straight up married, and guess what? Doesn’t make their lives easier. [Chuckles] They’re happier, but it’s not easier, so very fun stuff coming your way.
I love to hear all of that, the Silver Cops was such a weird but awesome introduction. I do want to ask, and it’s more for me than anything, but with how meta this show gets, now that you have Dan Stevens on board, have you ever considered just dropping in a line of, “F–k Downton Abbey?”
Mike McMahon: Man, I think it would make him laugh. Sometimes, I’m like, “Give me this line like Downton Abbey,” and he’ll be like, [In a British accent] “Oh, the tea is wrong!” [Laughs] It’s very funny.
Josh Bycel: We will get there, we will get to some Downton Abbey references.
Mike McMahon: We have to.
Josh Bycel: Yeah, it may be in a weird — it’s Solar, so we always have to come at everything with a little bit of a weird side, but we will get there for sure.
Mike McMahon: I mean, I’m a big fan of The Guest, too. I love him in The Guest, and he’s got a new movie coming out that he was filming right as we started working with him that’s about a little girl ballerina vampire. That looks frickin’ awesome, too. Genre Dan Stevens is the coolest.
Josh Bycel: He’s in the new Godzilla!
Mike McMahon: Oh yeah, he’s gonna fight Godzilla!
Josh Bycel: Well, I don’t know if he fights him, per se.
Mike McMahon: He better.
The Guest versus Godzilla!
Mike McMahon: I want that too. It’s like Godzilla going through a gymnasium with a gun. [Laughs]
Before I let you guys go, a lot of animated shows of late have had talks of animated movies or full-on productions of them. I mentioned it earlier, but Dan Harmon at Rick and Morty has been talking about having some momentum there. Have you guys had any considerations or talks about possibly expanding the world of solar opposites to a feature?
Mike McMahon: Yeah, we’re gonna do a decalogue, we’re going to do 10 Solar Opposites movies, each one inspired by a different part of the American flag. We haven’t gotten Hulu to approve that, but hopefully, this interview will move the needle a little bit on it, because I told them, “It’s either 10 movies or none.” And they were like, “We don’t even want one.” And I was like, “10 or none.” And they said, “None!” And I’m like, “10 or none.” [Laughs]
Josh Bycel: Well, listen, we would love to do it. It would be amazing. Right now, we’re focused on getting to season 6 and moving forward, but sure, we would do it in a heartbeat. Absolutely.
Mike McMahan: I would do 10 in a heartbeat, and only two of them would be b–er-popping, and one would be scary. So the rest are up in the air.
You know, after the Halloween special, I would love to see a legit Solar Opposites horror movie.
Mike McMahon: Right? I would love to say you can get in free if you bring your grandma. If your grandma will sit through an entire Solar Opposites movie, and you’ll sit right next to her, you get a free ticket. I guess on Hulu, it’s all at home, and you can watch it with your grandma there, but I just want to make a movie that makes you uncomfortable to be sitting next to your grandma.
Josh Bycel: What is more uncomfortable, sitting next to your grandma watching the Solar Opposites Valentine’s Day special or watching Saltburn?
Mike McMahon: I was gonna say, Korvo sucking s—-ge out of a tub? I can do that in a movie. I see that in the movie. We don’t even need the tub, we can save money on the tub.
About The Solar Opposites Valentine’s Day Special
The Solar Opposites get romantic AF in their very first Valentine’s Day Special!
Solar Opposites centers around a team of four aliens who are evenly split on whether Earth is awful or awesome. Korvo (Dan Stevens) and Yumyulack (Sean Giambrone) only see the pollution, crass consumerism, and human frailty, while Terry (Thomas Middleditch) and Jesse (Mary Mack) love TV, junk food and fun stuff. In Season 4, we pack up the sci-fi and get normal… for a second. Then it’s back to classic Solar chaos, mayhem in the Wall, and some all new Silvercops adventures!
Check out our interview with the Solar Opposites cast as well.
Solar Opposites
Solar Opposites is a Hulu adult animation series that centers on a family of aliens. After moving to America, they bicker about whether the country is better than their home planet. The series was created by Mike McMahan and Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, with characters voiced by Thomas Middleditch, Sean Giambrone, and Mary Mack.
- Release Date
- May 8, 2020
- Cast
- Thomas MIddleditch , Sean Giambrone , Mary Mack , Sagan McMahan , Justin Roiland , Tiffany Haddish
- Seasons
- 4
- Writers
- Justin Roiland , Mike McMahan
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu
- Directors
- Kim Arndt , Anthony Chun , Lucas Gray , Bob Suarez
- Showrunner
- Justin Roiland
