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(One piece reporting the news that Clarks series had begun production started with Hoo boy.)
Could you take me back to the moment you first found the comics?
That show is the foundation of my career but also my life.
And I read it because I was into him.
Weve all been there.It was like,Whats he trying to tell me?
Whats the message hes sending?
I love speculative fiction.
At that point in my life, I was a writers assistant.
I would never have been the person who would be picked to make the adaptation.
I loved the book so much, but a lot has happened in 20 years.
I didnt want to make something that was essentialist.
So I was able to come in with a clean slate, and that was nice.
Its pretty clear in the early episodes that youre trying to introduce a less gender-essentialized worldview in this story.
Well, because theyrenot.
And also, what?!
Its what Im trying to say with the show.
It wasnt enough to me to include trans characters.
Sam is a man.
He has a very binary understanding of his gender.
He has difficulties that he has to deal with, of being a visible man in this world.
Hes an artist in a world where hes wondering if art exists anymore.
He has this complicated relationship with Hero, all these other things hes a character, not a theory.
Chromosomes arent equal to gender, but even chromosomes are far more varied and interesting than XX and XY.
Its a fact of the premise that is heartbreaking to me and to that character.
Its something I didnt feel we could gloss over and pretend wasnt true.
Lets take a seatand think about this for a second.
Its just a very teeny, small part of it.
I was 25 years old.
My understanding of the world has changed.
There are trans characters inY: The Last Manthe book; theyre just such a minute part of it.
And you do have characters that say things like All the men are dead, which is contradictory.
For me, I care deeply about how gender diversity is portrayed in the show.
That is way more important to me than whether that pisses somebody off.
I dont give a shit.
Im not promising that I did it perfectly, but that matters deeply to me.
And I understand the criticism of the book.
I understand the criticism of even making this idea.
But I think its a really interesting way in to talk about our humanity.
Ultimately, I felt like we could do it.
No, Im just kidding.
All of the ways that their identities intersect as people and as writers.
Was that something you thought about?I think its great.
Stay tuned for why that matters so deeply to Allison.
Shes so excited about it!Why are you so stupid?
I also think the show only gets better at hiding that ball.
Because it was important for me to be like,This is what were making here.
Get on fucking board.
Didacticism sounds terrible, I know, but I also meant it as something potentially positive!
I think theres something to be said about popular art.
I write plays, I love theater.
I also had a very different production team than Ive ever had before.
It was very women-led.
We met once a week to talk about movies.
We decided that meant point of view, subjectivity, and detail.
The way we approached violence and nudity was purposeful, born from character and story.
So in episode six, theres this scene where all the women are bathing in the PriceMax.
Slow shots of the hip or the leg.
How do we make it feel different and maybe make us question the way we always see it?
Theyre all beautiful; theres a wide variety of body types.
Shes feeling a ton of shame about her body but also about who she is and what shes done.
Shes looking at all these women who seem to be okay with themselves.
The bathing scene, for instance, is not something we see in the book.
What was its genesis?Im really interested in how shame operates for these characters.
Her family has given her an identity that doesnt fit her.
Shes self-destructive in ways that hurt her but also hurt her friend.
Its what happens in the book and on the show.
For me, the Daughters of the Amazons in the book is super-fun.
I was interested in how something like that would work, what it says about power.
There are plenty of women whove been genuinely hurt by men.
I was excited to see how that female rage which is something I feel constantly.
I have spent a lot of years tamping down how angry I am.
Sam is the one who gets fucked over by how much shame she feels.
But the tone is very different.
Getting the breadth of the experiences of all of these characters is important.
It is also a challenge, for sure.
Every single one of the actors could have their own show.
I think its important for episodes to stand on their own.
I hope youdowatch the whole season, but its not a ten-hour movie.
Its a television show.
I dont approach it like, Episode six, the theme is shame.
I like to follow the truth of the characters experience, but then there are echoes.
In another interview, you said you have a multi-season plan for the show.
And saying it out loud is like … it is potentially a curse!
But its also like,Dont cancel me, Ive got big plans.
I love that this is a story that has a beginning, middle, and end.
I really hope I get the opportunity to get all the way there.
