COLLIDER: Creator Eric Kripke Talks REVOLUTION, How It’s Different from SUPERNATURAL, and Ideas for Future
by Christina Radish
September 16th, 2012
The NBC drama series Revolution, premiering on September 17th, tells the story of a family that struggles to reunite in an American landscape where every single piece of technology — computers, planes, cars, phones and even lights — has mysteriously blacked out forever. The show is centered around one strong-willed young woman, Charlie Matheson (Tracy Spiridakos), whose brother is kidnapped by militia leaders, forcing her to reconnect with her estranged uncle (Billy Burke), in order to rescue Danny (Graham Rogers), overthrow the militia and ultimately re-establish the United States of America, all while they explore the enduring mystery of why the power failed and if it will ever return.
During this recent exclusive interview with Collider, show creator/writer/executive producer Eric Kripke (Supernatural) talked about how the idea for the show started, how both J.J. Abrams (as executive producer) and Jon Favreau (as the pilot’s director) got involved, wanting to tell a character-driven adventure tale, how Revolution will have a slightly different and less snarky tone than Supernatural, his decision to immediately address the fact that the lack of electricity is not quite what it initially seems, the challenges of going from doing a show with two main characters to doing a show with a large ensemble cast, and how he already has a really solid idea about what Season 2 is, as well as possible notions for Season 3...
... Collider: When you do a show that’s so complex, with the concept and all these possible stories and characters, was there one thing that it started with?
ERIC KRIPKE: "There was, as a matter of fact. When I am kicking around show ideas, or really any idea, usually an image comes to me. I don’t really start with a character or a logline like, “What if the electricity turned off?” I was just noodling on an idea from an image of two guys having a sword fight, Lord of the Rings style, but instead of some kind of English Stonehenge, vine-covered structure as their backdrop, they were doing it in front of a vine-covered Starbucks. It was honestly that. And then, I started thinking, “Can we make America into a feudal kingdom, where we can have adventures and heroes and villains and love and loyalty?” It was just about coming up with a setting where you could tell a really classic, epic, sweeping adventure saga that was a very Joseph Campbell type of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings world.
I wanted to tell an old story that was about a journey, the way that Star Wars is the same story as The Lord of the Rings, which is the same story as The Wizard of Oz, which is the same story as The Odyssey. There’s one great story, and it’s big and it’s sweeping and it’s epic and it’s complicated. I wanted to tell that story, using the advantage of the medium of series television. The disadvantage that Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings had, as much as I’m a slave to those movies, is that they don’t have 22 hours a season, hopefully, to tell that story and to really flesh out every facet of their world. I thought this would be a great opportunity to use the television medium to really be able to dive, neck deep, into that type of story. So, it started with that. Honestly, it was about coming up with some version of, 'Okay, how do transform the American landscape into a setting where you can have adventure and excitement?'”
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