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Hit-Monkey Star Fred Tatasciore on Season 2, Jason Sudeikis & More

Fred Tatasciore (Star Trek: Lower Decks) spoke with Bleeding Cool about the upcoming second season of Marvel Animation's Hit-Monkey on Hulu.

Fred Tatasciore is a jack-of-all-trades as a voice actor with his versatility becoming so invaluable in the animation world. So much so that he can lead a series without even uttering a human line, like in the Hulu Marvel Animation series Hit-Monkey. Season one ends with Monkey making a fateful decision that wrecks his friendship with Akiko (Olivia Munn), who's now out for revenge. Meanwhile, the assassin-turned-spirit Bryce (Jason Sudeikis) has renounced his ascending and returned to help Monkey back on earth. The Star Trek: Lower Decks star spoke to Bleeding Cool about how he processes the scripts between seasons one and two with his monkey sounds, the work to put in the accuracy, chemistry with Sudeikis, working with creators Josh Gordon and Will Speck, season two additions Leslie Jones and Cristin Milioti, and teases what's ahead for season two.

Fred Tatasciore on Bringing Hit-Monkey to Life with Emotes and No Physical Lines

Bleeding Cool: We'll start with a silly question. When you get the episode scripts for 'Hit-Monkey', do you get the English lines to go with what Monkey is saying, his sounds, or both?

A little bit of both. Generally, I get the script, and then it has the action of what Hit-Monkey's doing, and then, where we would be voicing if it's specific, they'll be like a parenthetical phrase, like, "Bryce, we got to get going," or which I would do [makes monkey's sounds], depending on what they want with the energy. Or "I'm very sad about this" [makes sad monkey sounds]. I'll have a good sense of what the monkey is trying to say, what he's feeling, or what his intentions are when I'm recording while looking at that script. Also, I'm working with writers, directors, voice directors, and all that. We're going to do four or five passes per line and see what works best with the time. I do get the full script; sometimes, it's in a direct line, and other times, they want the general feeling.

As long as you have done this in your career, what are the biggest challenges of doing a show like this?

The biggest challenge is conveying the emotions to the sounds, but it's a challenge I love. It's one of the things I like to do as a voice artist and actor. It's hooking up, tonalities, and specifics to a set of sounds the challenge was for this show. I spoke on this, trying to get as specific to the snow monkey, macaque, as possible of what that monkey sounds like. They wanted to have accuracy of the monkey sounds and then make that move around to an emotion. That was the challenge of the first season. Once I started seeing how it all worked, it got easier, and saw how funny it was. Much to Jason Sudeikis's credit, realizing how much comedy is being done because I'm playing all the pathos. I'm playing all the sad, the straight man, all the feelings, and the whole mood of the show. I hadn't realized how funny it was going to be, but that's the challenge I love. It is trying to be as accurate because most creatures I play, let's just say '[Marvel's Devil Dinosaur], I can create that sound because we don't know where T-Rex…we're going to do our own versions of how things sound, and I can shape it. This one, we're specific to a particular creature that does exist in the world and that was the challenge.

How do you break down that dynamic and chemistry with Jason through both seasons?

Originally, in season one, he enters my world, sees the tragedy, and is killed. Somehow, we have this psychic connection between the two of us. I want revenge, and he's a killer and showing me [the ropes]. We're going to work together on being this incredible team and we're good, maybe a little too good at it. While we were trying to get revenge in that first season, we made a mess of everything. The second season is redemption, and we're trying to get ourselves clear or at least straighten up some of the problems we have in our lives.

[Bryce] is a ghost trying to reconcile things with a lot of people he's worked with, especially his daughter [Cristin Milioti]. I'm trying to be his wingman or his only representative in the earth world. It's funny to see all these people talking to the monkey, not realizing that the ghost is there, and they're putting him down left, right, and center. The development we've had is Bryce trying to get his life together. We are a family and a team. Monkey does not want to do this anymore. Monkey is sad because killing has been made that way. Revenge can leave you empty and that's what he's discovered. Now, he's getting sought after by Akiko [Olivia Munn], and she's getting revenge on him. He's going to be hunted. It's that dynamic and the big change is the sadness has turned to "We want redemption, and we want to straighten things out."

Can you talk about the creativity of Josh and Will in creating such an engaging adult animated show?

First, wow! Incredible! I love the original [Hit-Monkey] comic books. Were you familiar with the comics beforehand?

I read a few.

It was cool and interesting, but the fact they got so specific. What I love and what they did was they got specific about it and added so much comedy to it. Now, we're dealing with the Devil. Are you kidding me?! It's supernatural, so we've entered that Marvel world of the supernatural, and, of course, Keith David is playing the Devil. It's incredible and so good. I didn't realize how big their world was going to be. It wasn't just a hitman movie. It's such a bigger sweep with life changes, dealing with family, revenge, life, and death. What they did was they blasted it open into something so huge and not only, more psychedelic and surreal, but also more humorous than I expected. It's great and I'm excited about that.

You work with Ally Maki for most of the show, in addition to Jason. What was it like with her these two seasons? Can you talk about the additions of Leslie and Cristin and what they bring in season two?

First of all, I found out what Leslie Jones was going to be playing Eunice, I thought, "My God!" Because I'm such a fan of hers. She is amazing in everything she does and killing it in this. [Eunice] is such a specific, wonderful character. She's playing a tough person who's protecting Monkey. They have a friendship outside of Bryce, so they're a partner. The addition of having Eunice, who's in there controlling the situation and being Bryce's boss and being our anchor, makes it a whole different experience. That was hilarious.

Haruka, we're talking about Ally Maki; that character is a good cop. We see somebody who's good, not snarky, trying to do the right things. That character arc is huge because now we're trying to help her in her quest and it's hard. She's a good person and faced with all sorts of corruption in a winner-take-all society, whether you're in New York or Tokyo. It's a dangerous place to be, and seeing what she does, so [Ali]'s playing that beautifully.

Iris, who is Bryce's daughter, played by Cristin Milioti, is playing this, and it's beautiful. It's him trying to reconcile with his daughter, and that is a huge arc. It's probably one of the biggest arcs in the season. Seeing her, she doesn't hate her dad but rather doesn't want to be anything like him, and he was not there [for her]. It's hard to be that character and raise a child. Seeing that come together and Monkey be a part of that union was huge.

Olivia Munn plays Akiko. That was a betrayal. The idea now I have monkey, in friend's defense, has killed her uncle [George Takei]. She is taking the mask [of Lady Bullseye], taking revenge. That takes a dark turn so Akiko is one of the big deals in the show [laughs]. Monkey is being hunted so there we are, the hunter has become the prey, basically. I am so honored. What a cast, truly, and everyone plays it so beautifully!

Marvel's Hit-Monkey season two premieres July 15th on Hulu.

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