{"id":1114245,"date":"2026-01-30T04:05:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T04:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=517880"},"modified":"2026-01-30T04:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T04:05:25","slug":"common-side-effects-creators-talked-to-a-lot-of-people-to-get-their-conspiracy-just-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/common-side-effects-creators-talked-to-a-lot-of-people-to-get-their-conspiracy-just-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Side Effects\u2019 creators talked to a lot of people to get their conspiracy just right"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
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The thrust of Common Side Effects<\/em>, Adult Swim\u2019s new animated show, is a big one: What if you found a mushroom that would cure anything<\/em> \u2014 any ailment, any illness, any wound? Marshall (Dave King) has done exactly that, and he has found that the result is a lot of people think he\u2019s crazy, and he\u2019s got them<\/em> after them. You know them<\/em>: in this case, a cadre of shadowy figures, DEA agents, and various thugs sent by Big Pharma. It\u2019s a tale that goes as big as the animated world of Common Side Effects<\/em> will let it. Which is exactly why co-creators Joe Bennett and Steve Hely wanted the story to stay grounded and natural \u2014 right down to the motion of their eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re talking to [somebody] \u2014 a lot of times their pupils are always scanning your face, just always moving around and scanning,\u201d Bennett says. \u201cThat just feels like a little quirky thing that we don\u2019t really think about much.\u201d <\/p>\n

But Common Side Effects<\/em>\u2019 characters were considered on that level. Especially as the show balances the absurdity of being in a \u201990s-style conspiracy thriller from all angles. \u201cWe’ve always talked about Coen brothers movies being a really nice sort of North Star for us,\u201d Bennett says. \u201cYou can have these really hilarious moments and then all of a sudden somebody gets shot in the face.\u201d<\/p>\n

To anchor that, Bennett \u2014 who also worked on Scavengers Reign<\/em><\/a> \u2014 wanted the characters to look like people. (He laughs and acknowledges that these character designs are a little \u201cmore on the bobblehead side\u201d of the spectrum of characters he creates.) And to help build out the world, Hely and Bennett pulled from all over \u2014 we\u2019re talking all<\/em> over. <\/p>\n

\u201cStuff we\u2019ve been reading, stuff we\u2019ve experienced, people we knew, people we\u2019ve heard of, documentaries, life experiences,\u201d Hely told Polygon. \u201cThe Insider<\/em>, Erin Brockovich<\/em>, Grisham movies, The X Files<\/em> \u2014 all of these things that were important to us growing up. Conspiracy theories! Weird characters from Reddit, weird characters from real life.<\/p>\n

\"Marshall<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked to people in the pharma business. We talked to a mycologist. We talked to a tortoise biologist. We talked to people that have worked in different parts of the corporate world. We talked to a law professor who knows a lot about how drugs become legal or illegal.\u201d <\/p>\n

All of that could certainly bog down any writing process. But for Bennett and Hely, it actually felt freeing. After all, like with any good conspiracy, Common Side Effects<\/em> has a lot of moving parts. As people run and chase each other all over the world, there is a lot to consider even just on a pure timeline basis, let alone factoring in plot and pacing needs. To really lose themselves in the thriller, the research helped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed often like the more it was true to what would really happen, it would reveal exciting things that could go into the show,\u201d Hely said. \u201cIt\u2019s funny, the word \u2018cartoony\u2019 is sort of a negative word \u2014 we\u2019re trying to make a show as real as Succession<\/a><\/em> or Breaking Bad<\/em>. To do that in animation, if we pull that off, that right there will make the show funny.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

The first two episodes of <\/em>Common Side Effects are now streaming on Max. New episodes drop every Sunday night on Adult Swim at 11:30 p.m. EST and on Max the day after.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The thrust of Common Side Effects, Adult Swim\u2019s new animated show, is a big one: What if you found a mushroom that would cure anything \u2014 any ailment, any illness, any wound? Marshall (Dave King) has done exactly that, and he has found that the result is a lot of people think he\u2019s crazy, and he\u2019s got them after them. You know them: in this case, a cadre of shadowy figures, DEA agents, and various thugs sent by Big Pharma. It\u2019s a tale that goes as big as the animated world of Common Side Effects will let it. Which is exactly why co-creators Joe Bennett and Steve Hely wanted the story to stay grounded and natural \u2014 right down to the motion of their eyes.…<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1114246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1114245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"\nCommon Side Effects\u2019 creators talked to a lot of people to get their conspiracy just right | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The thrust of Common Side Effects, Adult Swim\u2019s new animated show, is a big one: What if you found a mushroom that would cure anything \u2014 any ailment, any\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/common-side-effects-creators-talked-to-a-lot-of-people-to-get-their-conspiracy-just-right\/\" \/>\n<meta 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