Jack is back! After 10-plus years of being off-air, Samurai Jack is returning to television to finish the story of a time-displaced samurai looking to change the future and his present. But this isn’t the same Samurai Jack you may remember. Although creator Genndy Tartakovsky has returned to bring the story of Jack to its natural conclusion, the tone of the series has shifted and matured.
But not everything has changed. Phil LaMarr has returned to voice Jack and to finish what the series started all those years ago.
We spoke with LaMarr about the series’ abrupt end, the show’s return, how the series has evolved and the legacy it leaves.
Samurai Jack returns on Adult Swim March 11 at 11 p.m.
Note: The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
iDT: It’s been so long since we saw Samurai Jack on television. I’m curious when shows return after being away, how did you find out you it was happening?
PM: “If TV production is a train, the actor is the caboose. We’re the last one’s on [laughs].
“But from what I understand, Genndy had a break after working on the last Hotel Transylvania movie and he had an idea that would work for tv. He called up the people at Cartoon Network and Adult Swim and they jumped at the chance because why wouldn't they? And then, yea, we were off and running.”
I ask because you ARE Jack, and I wonder if there was a possibility of you not reprising your role.
“That would have broken my heart. That would have devastated me.”
I’m sure they always had bringing you back in mind.
“I hope, you never know. Obviously, sometimes they decide to reboot things and take it in another direction. I don’t know why you would go in a different direction than good but sometimes they do [laughs].”
This isn’t the first time you’ve been involved with a show that went off the air and returned. Futurama is a perfect example of this. How does it feel to jump back into a character after so long?
“With this one, it’s been easier. This is probably my... I think I’ve had four animated series come back from the dead, Futurama, Family Guy and now Samurai Jack and Young Justice. I would definitely say of all of them, well Futurama we weren’t away from it as long, but Jack... that character never really left me. It’s the kind of relationship I’m never going to forget.
“And even though the character doesn’t talk very much, just the show itself is something I’ve always been happy to be a part of. Even over the years I’ve had so many people come up to me or ask about it and say that they love the show so much that it’s always been on the forefront of my consciousness.”
Was there a feeling of incompleteness when Samurai Jack went off the air?
“In this one more than most. Most TV shows don’t have an end in sight. They are created, ideally, to become these perpetual motion rating or merchandising machines. You know 'let it go forever!' [laughs]. But had [Samurai Jack] not ended, there would eventually come a time where we would have to deal with the fact that our premise has an end in sight and you can only push it down that road for so long until we have to meet with the end of our own premise.
“If you set up a TV show in a police station, eventually someone is going to have to commit a crime [laughs].”
That’s especially the case with the way Samurai Jack ended.
“Well, that’s the thing, the show didn’t end. It was on and then there weren’t any more episodes. There was no wrap up, no conclusion not even a pretend one. I don’t think anybody expected it to be over.”
How did you find out back then? Was it as abrupt for you as it was for us viewers?
“From my perspective, all I knew was that we finished the season and then Genndy went on to work on Clone Wars. So he was off on that, so we weren’t expecting to come back right away, that’s as far as I knew the reason why we have stopped. But then Clone Wars did really really well, and that went on and then we just never went back. Just like your dad going out for a cigarette and never coming home.”
[Laughs] You said before that Jack doesn’t really speak much and you’ve had a range of characters you’ve voiced for in your career, can you talk about how you get yourself into that character.
“I actually do more prep and research for a Samurai Jack script than a role [where] I have more dialogue. Because when you have a lot of dialogue, the dialogue itself tells you what’s happening but with these [Samurai Jack scripts] it’s just ‘Ugh’ and ‘grunt.’ I have to read to find out what type of grunting it is. Is he jumping? Is he fighting? Is he running? And I wound up digging into those storyboards, more than I might have otherwise just so I knew what was happening when I went in there to do my four or five lines. [laughs]”
Well, the move to Adult Swim really changes the series a lot from when the show was first aired. There’s a lot more heavy subject matter that is introduced, was it jarring to read this darker, grittier version?
“No, not really. I like to say that the show is on Adult Swim because it’s matured… When you’re a kid it’s simple, you’re only dealing with a handful of things, it feels like a lot but then you go 10-15 years down the line and deal with what you deal with as an adult day-to-day and juggling the feelings and all of that, it’s so much more. And to me, that’s where the show is now compared to the old one. It’s the same guy, same world, same big question but so many more things he’s dealing with. Circumstance, emotion and just the life he’s lived and how that has changed you. In 50 years, what am I doing?”
Has your approach to the character changed?
“No, not really. What changed more is what’s being required of me. I’m still playing the same guy but we’re now showing a different side of him. We’ve rarely, rarely went inside Jack’s head in the original series and a lot of these episodes spend time there. There’s still the amazing action, and the landscape they are still just amazing.”
It’s interesting that you say that we’ve never explored Jack’s psyche like this before. Without going into too many spoilers, is there a moment that really stuck out for you?
“Yes… I can’t tell you [laughs]. But listen, dude, Genndy and these guys were not messing around. When they came back to this story, they decided they had to honor the legacy of what they created and how that legacy has grown in the years that we’ve been away from the show. We couldn’t just come back and do another couple of little episodes in the same way we used to. They upped the game in a major, major way.”
Did you ever think you would get that call to come back to Jack?
“Oddly yes. Just because it was something Genndy wanted to do. And he’s a really smart, capable driven guy and I knew that if he wanted to do it, it would eventually get done. It was just a question of when and in what way. I wasn’t actually surprised that it came back just excited.”
You talked about fans’ reactions to Jack in the past but now that the announcement Samurai Jack is coming back, what has the fan reaction been?
“Oh people are super super excited. And I keep telling them that ‘if you think you’re excited now, wait till you see it.’ I was excited to hear that we were coming back but when I got the scripts, I got even more excited and I was like ‘What?! Really?! Oh my God.’ My hope is that the viewers’ reaction is the same reaction that I had because we are all psyched on a nostalgia basis like ‘Oh I love that show’ but this is more than just nostalgia, this is more than just feeding the beast. This is about creating on that very high level again and in a new way. So I think it’s great.”
Samurai Jack’s return seems like a drastic change in tone. How was coming back with that change?
“It’s amazing. A lot of times, they will bring a show back just because it’s a recognizable title. 'Oh you know, we’re going to do whatever it is but in 2016!' and basically it’s a money grab because it’s easier to sell something that people already know than sell something that’s a new idea.This is not so not that, it’s not coming back for no reason. It’s this burning question that needed to be answered and Genndy came with a really amazing way to answer that. And so there’s a reason this show is coming back and I think people will see that and feel that. I think that’s what they are responding to. We know that it’s not just to sell toys. It’s back because of the story and character needed to come back.”
Genndy is on record saying that he’s done with the show when this season is over, but he has left it open for other creators to jump and fill in the blanks. Are you done with playing Jack after this season is over?
“I’m certainly open to continuing on with the character in some other iteration. If Genndy isn’t involved? That becomes a little bit more of a question but no I’m not done. Of course, they may want to reboot it and say ‘it’s going to be a young Jack’ [laughs]. I have no idea. It’s interesting that Genndy may hand it over to someone else, I don’t know we’ll see.”
And you’ve done so many different characters, John Stewart, Static Shock. Where does Jack place in your career?
“I don’t know. I mean it’s definitely up there. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with some really great writers and creators and help bring a part of these characters to life. And a lot of them are really special to me for a number of reasons. John Stewart, even though I was a big Batman fan growing up, I’m a huge comic book guy and to be part of the DC Universe in that way was phenomenal. And Static Shock, remembering being a young black teenage boy in America, watching cartoons and not seeing anybody who looked like me and having the chance to change that for kids who came after me is amazing. I got to play a jedi on Clone Wars! And then to do this show, which it was one of my first series where I was the main guy and to have it be just so amazing on so many levels. I don’t know, I can’t pick but I can definitely just be thankful that I have a bunch to pick from.”
