I was wondering if you could share some of the thought that went into casting the voice actors for Clark, Lois, and Jimmy
For Clark/Superman, our most important criteria was finding someone who could nail the Clark voice. People all tend to have good Superman voices, and we have 80+ years of actors putting on a Superman voice to pull from, but finding an actor who could be charming and anxious as Clark was a lot harder. Luckily, Jack Quaid auditioned and nailed it on his first try!
For Lois, Alice Lee was one of the first voices we heard, and her grit and determination instantly won us over.
Jimmy was actually the hardest to cast, because we needed an actor who could go from shouting ridiculous conspiracy theories about dino-men to conveying real, genuine love and concern for his friends. We wrote a special, very serious side for the Jimmy actors to try, and Ishmael made us all tear up. That audition we actually ended up writing into the show, as the moment Jimmy reveals he knows Clark is Superman and that he wished Clark would have been honest with him.
Hi Josie! If you got the chance to create a spinoff for an unrelated DC hero set in the same universe as MAWS, which hero would you choose?
That's a tough one! I think I would choose Wonder Woman. In a world where the US Government freaked out upon learning aliens existed, I think there would be a lot of storytelling potential in Wonder Woman showing up and being like, "Oh yeah, there's a whole island nation of super-strong demi-immortals you knew nothing about. Anyhow, what's shaking?"
Plus I think a MAWS-style Diana and our MAWS Lois Lane would immediately become friends.
Hello! I'm personally curious as to what the thought process was in the creative decision to make Lois Lane have Korean heritage.
I find this especially interesting because one of my favorite comic characters, Linda Park, is a Korean journalist married to a superhero (Wally West, the third Flash). Was there thought to how this might affect major aspects of her life like her military connections with General Lane? Are there any plans to make that Korean heritage a prominent part of MAWS Lois as a distinguishing factor?
Overall, it was deeply important to us to have our show reflect reality -- and the reality is that our world is made up of tons of people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, genders, orientations, countries, etc. If Metropolis is the City of Tomorrow, the utopian shining star of the DC Universe, then that means Metropolis is a place where all are welcome, no matter who they are or where they come from. It is also important to us because our crew, like the world around us, is made up of tons of different people with different backgrounds, from all over the country and all over the world.
I issued an open invitation to all crew members, from artists to PAs, to join us in the Writer's Room whenever we gathered to break story. From there, a lot of our Korean-American crew members got really inspired talking about Lois, and sharing their own experiences; from these conversations came things like Lois' gala outfit (based off Art Director Jane Bak's own hanbok). While the show is still about Superman, we wanted to incorporate authentic touches and details that mattered to our crew; at the end of the day Superman is for everyone, and it's been an honor creating a Metropolis and a show that embraces everyone as well.