Posted in: Apple, TV | Tagged: Ashly Burch, mythic quest

Mythic Quest: Ashly Burch on Cancellation, New Ending, Show's Legacy

Ashly Burch spoke with Bleeding Cool about her run as Rachel on Mythic Quest, the Apple TV+ series' cancellation/new finale ending, and more.

Ashly Burch will forever be grateful for what the Apple TV+ geek-centric dramedy series Mythic Quest has done not only as an actor, but also as a creative. Before joining the Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney and Megan Ganz, she became one of the biggest positive LGBTQ+ figures in the pop culture community amassing an impressive filmography of voiceovers in video games and animated shows, and the occasional live-action series including some signature roles in the Borderlands franchise as Tiny Tina/Tina, Mortal Kombat franchise as Cassie Cage, The Last of Us Part II as Mel. As Rachel in the Apple TV+ series, the character emerged from being a tester to joining the staff full-time. Burch spoke to Bleeding Cool about her reaction to the series' cancellation after four seasons, how the series was always prepared for that day with an alternate ending, how she's grown as an actor and creative, how that forged her path to the spinoff miniseries Side Quest, and her chemistry with Imani Hakim's Dana.

Mythic Quest Star Ashly Burch on the Invaluable Experience Gained and Leveling Up as an Actor and Creative

Bleeding Cool: Were you disappointed by 'Mythic Quest's' cancellation?

I'm a little disappointed, because we felt we had more story we could tell. At the same time, we made four great seasons and a spinoff. We're proud of what we've made, and I have gotten to make friendships and create relationships that I'm gonna take with me the rest of my life. We are all proud of the show we made, so it's disappointing, but we still got to do something really awesome.

Have you gotten around to wrapping the new ending?

Yeah, we filmed two different endings for the last episode, in case this happened. It sounds like they're reverting to the other episode ending that we shot when we originally shot.

What's it like having to film that? Was it something you dreaded that had to come?

You never know with any show, really, if it's coming back. For the entire run of Mythic Quest, every season, I'm like, "I hope we get to make more." It wasn't honestly substantially different than how we filmed the rest of the show. There was always a chance that the season we were on could be our last season. I was honestly just happy that option was there so we could end it on our own terms if that's what happens.

How do you feel you've grown as an actor and creative on the show, and how have Charlie, Rob, and Megan helped nourish that?

I've grown so much. I feel like I was just a baby when we started 'Mythic Quest' in a way. I hadn't done much on-camera acting when I started the show, and so I learned so much about what it is to be an actor on a TV show. I feel I learned how to bring myself more to that character, and over time, [my character] Rachel became more and more embodied, because of what we were doing in the writers' room, and what you know I was able to do on set. I'm really grateful for that and also like the number of opportunities that I got through 'Mythic Quest' were incredible, like I directed several episodes of TV now. I became a co-showrunner, and that was because Rob, Megan, and David [Hornsby] put their faith in me and set me up to succeed. It's hard to quantify how much they helped me grow, because I grew in so many ways throughout the show.

What's your favorite Rachel moment, and how much are you like her in real life?

My favorite Rachel moment is probably in the most recent season when I am defending child labor in front of Congress. It's the most flailing I've done as that character, which is very fun. We are not incredibly similar [laughs], and I would hope I have a lot more self-awareness than Rachel. I think Rachel liked to see herself as a moral person, and then started behaving more immorally as the show went on, which I think was part of the humor of her character. It is those things that are in conflict between her morals and actions. I definitely hope I never find myself defending child labor in front of Congress. I think we're a little different in that respect.

I love the dynamic you had with Imani [Hakim] as your characters Rachel and Dana have grown. How do you feel your characters have evolved throughout the series, and what's been the fan reaction to that growth?

We figured out throughout the series how to find the humor in those characters. When we started, we were still discovering what 'Mythic Quest' was going to be. I know that Rob, in particular, wanted it to feel different from '[It's Always] Sunny [in Philadelphia'] in how we were conceptualizing those characters initially felt more like 'Sunny' characters. Rachel was a bit… creepier [awkward laugh], perhaps more stalkery, and Dana was a lot more oblivious.

Casting Imani changed the dynamic in it. It was hard to imagine Imani being unaware that Rachel is head-over-heels in love with her. It shifted the dynamic, and we became a lot more of a sweeter love story, which was really nice. We solved the idea of the "Will they? Won't they?" pretty quickly, and then it became interesting to figure out, "Okay, we know who these people are together, but who are they separately, how do we make them distinct, and how to we find ways for them to fit into this group dynamic? What holes can these characters fill, and what are things that can make them funnier?"

When we hit on Rachel becoming head of monetization as someone who started to sort of click in terms of the funniness of her having these strong morals, then having a job, and doing things that are very much against those morals. You then having Dana being blindly ambitious, like we thought, was also a fun color on her. It seemed like people responded well to it. I know there was a lot of positive feedback about the episode that Imani directed, where Rachel goes to Congress, in particular. It felt like a great culmination for her character, but that's where she would get herself, because of her high moral standards and low level of intelligence.

All four seasons of Mythic Quest, which also stars McElhenney, Charlotte Nicdao, Jessie Ennis, Hornsby, Danny Pudi, Naomi Ekperigin, and F. Murray Abraham, are available on AppleTV+.

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