Common Side Effects Creators On What Makes Adult Swim’s New Conspiracy Thriller Unique [SCAD]

Common Side Effects is one of the first new series set to launch on Adult Swim in 2025, with the highly anticipated conspiracy thriller being one of the network’s most interesting upcoming projects. The animated series follows Marshall Kusso, a man who discovers a medicine that has the potential to cure nearly every ailment. However, a massive pharmaceutical company hopes to take him down before he spreads this cure-all to the world of Common Side Effects, with Marshall enlisting the help of Frances Applewhite, a friend who secretly works for the company.

Common Side Effects features a hilarious cast of actors and comedians, starring Dave King as Marshall Kusso and Emily Pendergast as Frances Applewhite. Agents Copano and Harrington are voiced by Joseph Lee Anderson and Martha Kelly respectively, while King of the Hill‘s Mike Judge voices the head of the villainous pharmaceutical company.

Common Side Effects series creators Joe Bennett and Steve Hely were at SCAD AnimationFest 2024, the Savannah College of Art and Design’s yearly celebration of the art of animation, where the duo showed off their new Adult Swim series. Screen Rant interviewed Bennett and Hely, with them discussing the inspirations behind the show and the series’ future beyond season one.

Common Side Effects Had All Kinds Of Inspirations

“We got going on some stuff like drugs, Ayahuasca, drug companies, psychedelics, different kinds of medicine, what healing means to different people, wellness, law enforcement, and the drug war.”

Screen Rant: What was the inspiration behind making Common Side Effects?

Steve Hely: Well, Joe and I were interested in a lot of similar themes. We got going on some stuff like drugs, Ayahuasca, drug companies, psychedelics, different kinds of medicine, what healing means to different people, wellness, law enforcement, and the drug war. We were talking about a lot of themes. We also got going on a thought experiment of ‘What would it look like if there were a medicine that could heal almost anything, and how would that affect the world?”

Joe Bennett: Or disrupt the world.

Steve Hely: Right. Weird little thought experiments are often ways that we talk and engage.

Common Side Effects’ Mushroom Cure-All Has A Reason Behind It

“Mushrooms are really strange.”

In episode one of Common Side Effects, a mushroom is the source of this cure-all medicine. Why was a mushroom what you decided to go with rather than any other form of medication?

Joe Bennett: I think because it’s Earth-based and it’s provided by nature. Especially since Big Pharma is part of this we were thinking of something that is not synthetic.

Steve Hely: Mushrooms are really strange. They’re really old. Some of them can kill you immediately, some of them are delicious, some of them can make your mind feel pretty strange. They have weird ways of communicating with each other. It seems like something that we’ve barely scratched the surface of in terms of our knowledge.

Joe Bennett: You would believe that there could be a mushroom out there that could do all this stuff.

Why Adult Swim Is The Right Home For Common Side Effects

“At one time it was going to be on Amazon, at one time it was going on Max.”

Is Adult Swim where you always saw Common Side Effects being? If so, what appealed to you both about Adult Swim in terms of why the series would be a good fit for Adult Swim?

Steve Hely: We went on quite a journey of developing the show. At one time it was going to be on Amazon, at one time it was going on Max. We met with FX. But we’re psyched to be part of Adult Swim, because everyone knows that’s a place where you can get cool, weird, interesting stuff. In some ways this is a little different than other Adult Swim shows. It’s a little more serialized and it’s a little bit more plot-driven. Hopefully the audience will be ready for that.

How Common Side Effects Compares To Joe Bennett’s Previous Show

“I don’t know that I’d call it sci-fi. I’d say it’s a little bit more of a conspiracy thriller.”

Joe, previously you made Scavengers Reign, which is a streaming show. What are some of the differences and challenges that come with making a show for streaming versus a show for cable, and which one do you prefer?

Joe Bennett: It’s pretty much the same. For both of these shows, I think that the challenge was to keep the quality high. But it’s the same fast turnaround. It’s just a TV schedule, and it can be difficult at times. But I’m excited about the fact that this is going to be linear and that it may potentially reach a bigger audience now that it is on Adult Swim. But yeah, I’d say for the most part that it’s kind of the same.

Scavengers Reign was more of a heavy sci-fi series due to it being on an alien planet. Common Side Effects is still a sci-fi due to the medication, but it is a lot more grounded. Why did you want to stay in the sci-fi genre while going for a more grounded tone?

Joe Bennett: I think a big part of it is the conversations that I’ve had with Steve. The references and inspiration that we’ve been pulling from are a lot of things that are based in reality. I don’t know that I’d call it sci-fi. I’d say it’s a little bit more of a conspiracy thriller.

Steve Hely: With Joe’s style, it seemed like he was getting towards animation that takes place in our real world. The little weird, stumbly ways that people talk, the strange little interactions and timing, down to the weird facial expressions, it seems like Joe has this gift for making things feel real. We wanted to use that plus put a little element in there that would modify the world and see how everyone would react to that.

Common Side Effects’ Cast Had A Big Impact On Its Characters

“We were trying to encourage improvisation…”

How did working with the voice actors affect the characters? Were the characters changed when you got the voice actors, or did you present the voice actors with these characters and all their weird idiosyncrasies?

Joe Bennett: There’s a little bit of both.

Steve Hely: Martha Kelly, for instance, we had in mind. She has this unique style. Dave King, the lead, is not best known as an actor. But we know him very well, and he has an authenticity that we thought we could play with. We were trying to encourage improvisation and having people say things as naturally as possible.

Joe Bennett: Embracing mistakes.

Steve Hely: Yeah. We used the odd pauses and laughs and sounds that people make when they’re just riffing.

Joe Bennett: But in terms of the production of animation, it was kind of like meeting in the middle. We would board a lot of the stuff out with scratch records. But when we got the official records, we’d go in and make all of the nuanced changes in animation.

Steve Hely: Improvisation is actually hard to get, because it’s a stiff sort of thing to be standing in a recording booth by yourself. It’s hard to get people to be natural, but we did as much as we could. We would always turn the mics on and chat, trying to get people to be as loose as possible.

What The Show’s Creators Have Said About The Future Of Common Side Effects (Season 1 & Beyond)

“We have plans for the future.”

Based on episode 1, Common Side Effects could have been live action. Why do you feel like animation is the correct medium for this story?

Joe Bennett: Wait until you see the other episodes.

Steve Hely: Yeah, we’re pushing into visuals that you wouldn’t be able to do.

Joe Bennett: It would have been a real pain in the ass if it was live action.

Are you planning for Common Side Effects to be a miniseries, or do you have plans for future stories?

Joe Bennett: We have plans for the future.

Steve Hely: We’re about to begin some preliminary work on season two. We hope it goes for a long time.

More About Common Side Effects (2025)

Co-created by Joe Bennett and Steve Hely and executive produced by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, Common Side Effects follows Marshall and Frances, two former high school lab partners who share a secret: Marshall has discovered the world’s greatest medicine, a mushroom that can heal almost anything. But getting it out into the world won’t be easy — the DEA, big pharma, and international businessmen are all on the chase to stop them. The half-hour serialized comedic thriller is produced by Bandera and Green Street Pictures.

Check out our other Common Side Effects interviews:

Common Side Effects releases on Adult Swim in 2025.