Now in its fourth glorious season on Apple TV+, Mythic Quest, our favorite workplace comedy set in the gaming industry, continues to raise the stakes – bringing fresh challenges, bigger ambitions, and ever-wilder twists for our beloved characters.
Created by Charlie Day, Megan Ganz, and Rob McElhenney, Mythic Quest Season 4 sees the return of our office crew, all navigating the rapidly evolving video game industry while struggling to maintain some semblance of work-life balance.
Two feisty characters that stands up for themselves in said industry are Carol (Naomi Ekperigin), who’s the vocal and no-BS HR manager that’s really starting to need some of her own human resources, and Jo (Jessie Ennis), the office assistant known for her explosive personality, intense loyalty, and unorthodox methods into being of service to his team.
Coinciding with Season Four’s release, Tony Ling joined a global press junket where Ekperigin and Ennis provided exciting insights into how their characters continue to tick in new, enchanting ways whilst dealing with another series of spicy video game industry occupational hazards.
So in season four, boundaries are being tested. We see our beloved characters face challenges like never before, both personally and professionally. What’s a standout moment for either yourselves as actors or your characters that you brought to Carol and Jo this season?
Jessie Ennis: Well, I really love how Dana challenges Jo to dig deeper and try to figure out what her true calling is and how that sends Jo on a little bit of a journey, trying to figure out who she wants to be and what her dream job is. And I think where that takes us is really fun and exciting to watch.
Naomi Ekperigin: And Carol is a hot mess in season four. She is making mistakes, she’s doing things she should not be doing. Not in the workplace, but you know what? It was so fun to play, so fun to play crazy Carol this season.
There’s a lot of relatability with being a hot mess in this day and age.
Naomi Ekperigin: Right? Absolutely!
So finding yourself is definitely a road fraught with fruits and peril. What’s a trait of Carol and Jo that you’re proud to have brought to the forefront this season?
Jessie Ennis: I love how I’m always surprised by how much more intense Jo is always able to get. So I thought we brought it to eleven before, but now it’s like, oh, there’s a hundred and eleven. I didn’t know. So watching Jo make her own weapon and do her warrior within journey I thought was really fun. And then seeing how she plans parties, like a professional party planner is just something that I’m excited for people to see.
Naomi Ekperigin: And Carol, it was nice to discover that Carol’s a heartbreaker. She’s a heartbreaker, okay. She’s really changing some lives in this season in a way that I don’t even think Carol saw coming and just think that she could really have this effect. Have this effect on. Gentlemen, that’s pretty exciting. That’s pretty exciting.
Carol and Jo are such fierce, strong personalities who make their voices heard in the office. How do you both bring their dynamite energy to life on-screen?
Jessie Ennis: Oh my gosh. Well, there’s a shorthand between all of the cast. We’ve worked together now for five years on these four seasons, and so to be honest, it’s become really easy. It’s like slipping into a jacket that fits you perfectly and the talent that we get to work with is just through the roof. So it’s just been a joy to get to come back to work each year.
Naomi Ekperigin: I mean, it was absolutely, as Jesse said, it is so comfortable and certainly there’s a lot of time between season three and season four due to the dual strikes. And so of course when we were able to come back, there’s just a gratitude for being able to get back to work, but then to see people who you haven’t gotten to hang out with in a while, it’s always fun. And it felt like, at least for me, this was the first season where it felt a lot easier to slip back into Carroll. It always takes me a beat to kind of be like, wait, who is she? Where are we again? What are we doing? And the fourth time just got so comfortable, so second nature, and it was easy to just get right back to it and start playing.
Especially with such a lovely supportive environment of people around you right?
Jessie Ennis: Exactly, yeah. We feel really buoyed by each other. And we had a lot of cast members step into the director spot this year. I almost said semester this year. And it was really beautiful to see how much we were all rooting for each other to do a good job.
I love that we’re all in this together. How do you balance the comedy and drama in your amazing roles while keeping it authentic?
Jessie Ennis: Well, to be honest, the scripts are so well crafted that if we just do, as we’re told, we end up gaining, we end up receiving all these compliments. But it’s really a testament to how great the writing is because Megan Gans and David Hornsby and Rob McElhanney all do such a good job of figuring out how to strike that balance. And then we shoot the scenes as written and then we get to do some improvisation. But I really think that the tone is something that’s set in the scripts.
Naomi Ekperigin: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think it’s also about just playing it as real as possible. You know what I mean? Again, the jokes are written right, and it’s all very tight. So it’s not about how do I make this funny? I think it’s how do I stay as true to the emotional reality of the character as possible? And then hopefully that will give you both the comedy and the drama.
Tackling work-life balance is definitely brought to the fold this season. How do you think the show’s focus on work-life balance speaks to today’s audience?
Naomi Ekperigin: We’re all struggling… aren’t we? *pause of dramatic effect* We’re all struggling to get that work life balance. And so I think everyone knows what it feels like to have the pressure to perform or generate output at a certain level. But at the same time, I think we all recognise that everybody needs self-care and downtime and quiet time. So those things are in opposition, right? We’re in a world where we all want to video, as you say, get ready with me every morning. It’s like, can we make this something? But then at the same time it’s like, leave me alone so I can figure my shit out.
Jessie Ennis: I definitely find that when I’m working, I become laser focused on the work and my family kind of knows not to expect to see me for those months because I don’t know that I believe in the balance. I don’t know, I haven’t been able to figure out where this balance comes from, but so for me, it’s like those months are reserved for working and then the balance comes once I’m wrapped, which maybe is the healthiest option for me because I really benefit from diving completely into what I’m focusing on. And then afterwards I shake it off and I schedule some game nights with my family.
If you could tease one thing about what’s ahead for your character, what would it be?
Naomi Ekperigin: I think in season four, Carol, the head of human resources discovers that she could use her own human resources. Okay, let’s put it that way. She realises that she might need some help of her own. And I think that was important for Carol to discover.
Jessie Ennis: And I think Jo gains a new confidence in knowing what she truly wants to do professionally and that it’s a thrill to go on this journey with her and see her discover…her true self.
What do you admire most about the storytelling approach in this series?
Jessie Ennis: I love how messy it is. I love how raw it can be. How you never really know what to expect. We’ve gotten to a point where we are comfortable with these characters and still there’s always something new to learn and to dig deeper into the character development. And I think that Megan does such a great job of leading the writers and keeping things fresh.
Naomi Ekperigin: Absolutely. Putting them in different situations every time, every season you see ’em in a little bit of a difference. There’s a little bit of a pivot. There’s a little shift, and that’s always fun.
The first two episodes of Mythic Quest Season Four are now streaming on Apple TV+, with new episodes releasing every following Wednesday.