Posted in: Cartoon Network, Paramount+, TV | Tagged: Among Us, Regular show, Regular Show: The Lost Tapes

Among Us Creator on All-Star Ensemble Cast, "Regular Show" & More

Among Us creator Owen Dennis on the ensemble voice cast (including Ashley Johnson and Patton Oswalt), Regular Show: The Lost Tapes, and more.

Owen Dennis has emerged in the animation world, developing his craft originally on Cartoon Network's Regular Show and, over a combined eight years, on Infinity Train. His latest project taps into the familiar adult animation space with Paramount+'s Among Us, adapted from the Intersloth games franchise of the same name, about a group of eccentric, monochromatic crewmates of a ship transporting junk across the galaxy who must root out an Impostor in their midst before they fall victim to its villainous designs. The series is based on the globally popular multiplayer social deception game of the same name. Dennis spoke to Bleeding Cool about recruiting his all-star cast of voiceover veterans with the likes of Patton Oswalt, Ashley Johnson, Elijah Wood, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Wayne Knight, letting the talent tap into improv to enhance the series' comedy, if he considered tapping The Thing star and voice actor Keith David for a role since the series was inspired by the John Carpenter classic, revisiting Regular Show and Infinity Train, and more. The following contains spoilers.

Among Us Creator Owen Dennis on Tapping into Voice Talent Favorites, Revisiting 'Regular Show' and 'Infinity Train' & More

BC: Was there anyone specific that you were targeting from the get-go for that centerpiece?

Dennis: I was excited with everybody that we got. I really liked that Patton Oswalt was able to come onto the show and stay for so many episodes. (Note: His character dies in the first episode.) It was fun working with Ashley Johnson again. I've talked about her before, but she did two seasons of 'Infinity Train' with me. There's a part of my brain that just sounds…writers sometimes have certain archetypes we'll use repeatedly, and an archetype that exists inside my brain is just an angry teen girl. She just exists in my brain, and she sounds like Ashley Johnson, so whenever I'm able to get something that sounds like actually Ashley Johnson into something, I try to get her. She's great.

I was so happy with everybody else who came on board, and I was really happy when Elijah [Wood] said, "Yes," as well as Yvette Nicole Brown, Liv Hewson, like everybody…Wayne Knight, again. Wayne Knight reminded me that this is the second time, well, spoiler alert, but Wayne Knight reminding me this is the second time I've blown him up, which I thought was pretty funny. So, I'm going to see if I can do the next project; I can get him again, blowing up the third time [laughs].

With the scripts and everything, would there be room to ad lib for the actors or did they just stick to the script?

Yeah, I usually try to make sure there's a little bit of room for that if they want it. I always try to be sure that the story and the writing and everything is solid and good to go, and then do that first. If the actors feel like they have some place they want to go or try to expand in different directions and stuff, I'm always open for that.

Since 'Among Us, ' you said, is in part inspired by 'The Thing,' did you think about reaching out to Keith David since he played Childs?

I was happy with all the actors we got. We didn't. There wasn't anybody that I think that we tried for that we weren't able to get. Like everybody, these were the people that we asked, and these are the people who came. It was great.

What was it like just working with Madeline Queripel creatively as a director?

I've been working with Maddy for a long time now, as I went to college with her. She was in one class of mine, and she was in my screenwriting class in like 2008 or something. My first impression when I met her was, "She's smart. I like her." That was my main interaction with Maddy, and then we both happened to work on 'Regular Show' together. I asked her to be my supervising producer on 'Infinity Train,' and she's one of those people that I view as…she's always very smart, empathetic, and great at figuring out." She would notice things like, "Hey, this is important to the story." She'll curb some of my tendencies to be like, "Ah, we can just move past that; let's just go." She'll also be like, "No, let people have a moment to like absorb this emotional moment for a second," and I'll be like, "All right." I basically run almost every decision I make past Maddy. She's a friend and confidante, and she's fantastic.

With the show like 'Among Us,' did you just plan for the season, or did you have long-term goals should it get picked up for future seasons?

Every time that I make a season of a show, I always assume it's the only season that I'm going to get because no one makes big orders of seasons of shows anymore. I always assumed, like, whatever I'm making, this is it, so I must make this season satisfying so that when it ends, it's not going to be the end of the world if there's not another season. This season ends with a satisfying conclusion, all that sort of stuff. I always have.

Some things happen when you're building a season where you're like, "Oh, we can't really chase that idea," or "We can really chase that idea. There's a different way we could have done it. Well, we cannot really do that." And it's like things that get jettisoned that you want to do, but don't fit into the story that you're telling. So, I have 100 percent other seasons and ways that we can do other seasons. That sounds like a lot of fun, yeah.

Have there been other plans to revisit and expand 'Infinity Train' and 'Regular Show?'

Yeah, I regularly go back to Warner Bros and talk about 'Infinity Train,' to see if they want to do something with it, and I talk to other companies about 'Infinity Train' [laughs]. We wrote a whole movie script for the fifth season that goes parallel to the fourth season, so it's there, and I want to do it. It's hard to… I've written a whole thing and be excited to make it, and then like not be able to make it, so I really want to make it. I think there's an audience for it as well.

I did actually go back to 'Regular Show' for a couple of episodes on the newest season ( for 'The Lost Tapes'), so I did write and board like three episodes, but there's also like other stuff that I want to do. I'd like to get into live action would be cool. I'd like to work on the 'Star Fox' movie. I think that'd be awesome. Yeah, I'd love to do like (Stephen Gilbert's) 'Ratman's Notebooks', which was like a book that I really liked. I'd like to turn that into an animated movie, but I'd also have a script for a live-action horror comedy that's based on a cooking competition that's got a name actor attached that I think would be fun. It's like a comedy horror movie, so I've got a lot of stuff that I want to do.

Among Us, which features the voices of Dan Stevens, Kimiko Glenn, Phil LaMarr, Randall Park, and Debra Wilson is available on Paramount+.

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