Netflix’s new comedy series “Murderville” has an inherently funny premise – the show stars Will Arnett as a detective, and in each episode a different special guest star plays his new partner. Except while Arnett and his co-stars have the outline of a script, the guest star walks onto set with no script, and has to improvise their way through the investigation until, at the end of the episode, they have to determine who they think committed that episode’s murder.
But how, exactly, does this work? Is it all really improvised? How long does each episode take to shoot? All good questions with fascinating answers, it turns out.
TheWrap recently spoke with “Murderville” showrunner Krister Johnson about the series, and he answered all of our burning questions.
How Different Is “Murderville” From the Show It’s Based On?
“Murderville” is the brainchild of Arnett, who sparked to the premise of the U.K. series “Murder in Successville,” which has the same setup. But in adapting the format for the Netflix series, Johnson wanted to make a few changes. For one, “Murder in Successville” takes place in a town entirely populated by celebrities, all played by impersonators. In “Murderville,” the focus is mostly just on Arnett and his partner of the week.
“We really just wanted to focus the comedy on the dynamic between the guest and Will and the story of that episode,” Johnson explained. “But I also really thought that it would be fun to build out the world around Will’s character a bit more and have a few more recurring characters and sort of get to know his precinct a little bit better and get to know his personal and work life.”
Did the Guest Stars Really Know Nothing Before Stepping on Set?
According to Johnson, yes — they knew nothing. For instance, when you see Conan O’Brien walk into the set in the first episode of “Murderville,” that’s the first time he’s seeing the set. “What they knew to agree to the job was that they were going to be solving a kind of murder mystery and that Will was the star of the show and they would have no script,” Johnson explained. “They literally knew nothing else.”
All of the camera blocking was done beforehand with a stand-in, so you can even see O’Brien go the wrong direction when he arrives in the first episode. That’s why Arnett’s character guides him over to where his mark would be, so he’s placed in front of the camera.
“We would do a rehearsal with the rest of the cast, get everything set,” Johnson explained. “The guest was never on set while we were doing that. And then we would get them from a trailer and we would walk them in. We would do those scenes, we got what we got, there wasn’t a lot of time to be precious, which was sort of the scariest thing about it. And then they would leave, go back to their trailer, and we would rush over to the next set. And people would already be setting it up and we’d just try to keep moving as quickly as possible.”
How Long Did Each Episode Take to Film?
Each episode of “Murderville” was shot over two days. “The guest was on set for basically two 10-12 hour days, and they had to shoot it in sequence because they have to follow the mystery. That was the only way to do it.” But Johnson and Co. lucked out because the soundstages they used previously belonged to the series “Teen Wolf,” so they had sets for a school, library, hospital and police precinct all in one place, making the experience of filming the entire episode in a short period of time much easier.
Were the Guest’s Suspect Guesses Scripted?
No, and that proved to be challenging for the production. “The only other part that was a real wild card was their guess,” Johnson explained. “Because when the police chief comes in at the end and basically magically has the answer, we wanted her to be able to not just tell the guests whether they’re right or wrong, but specifically respond to the reasons the guests said that they were right or wrong. So after the guest would finish the scene with the third suspect, I go over to them and I basically say, ‘OK, you’ve now seen or heard or had the opportunity to see or hear all the evidence, all the clues, anything you would need to pick which suspect it was. So I’m going to give you 20-30 minutes to think it over and then I’m going to come find you in your trailer and ask for your answer and the reasons why you thought it was that person.’”
As the production was setting up for the final scene, the guest star would be working out who they think commit the murder and why. Then they would have to sign a piece of paper giving their guess so the production could rewrite the police chief’s monologue. “Once I got their answer and the reasons why, I would take those notes and I would run back to our little production office and I would sit with a couple of our writers and I would rewrite, basically, the chief’s monologue that lays out the truth about the case,” Johnson revealed. “And so that was always a bit of a sprint. Then she, of course, didn’t have time to memorize that. So she would wear an earpiece and I would be feeding her the lines off stage in real time.”
If this brings to mind the experience of making an episode of “SNL,” you’re not alone. “That was the part that was always scary because it felt as close as anything to a live show on top of the fact that we didn’t really know what was going to happen.”
What Guests Could Be Brought in for Season 2?
While Netflix hasn’t yet officially renewed “Murderville” for a second season, Johnson already knows his dream guest for the show. “I do feel like Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters would be a great guest,” the showrunner confessed. “And I think that whether we get him or not, there’s a lot of fun in getting people who are charismatic and playful and are going to jump into it with both feet, but aren’t ringers.”
Indeed, Johnson said the entire idea behind “Murderville” wasn’t to hire the best improvisers in the world. “We never wanted to put a bunch of ringers in there. Sometimes I’ve been reading some of the Twitter comments and people are like, ‘Well, this guest was funny, but they weren’t that great at improvising.’ And the show wasn’t supposed to be about getting the best improvisers. To me, that was never the point at all nor is the point of the show, frankly, to wow people with a crime story… The show really to me is happens when someone that you recognize and know from their other work is dropped into a kind of impossible situation.”
“Murderville” is currently streaming on Netflix.
