Press conference - SDCC 2025 : Twisted metal Season 2 : Michael Jonathan Smith’s interview 

By Mulder, San Diego, Convention Center, stand Sony Pictures Televisio, 25 july 2025

With Twisted Metal Season 2 crashing back onto screens in a blaze of chaotic glory, fans of the iconic vehicular combat franchise are in for an even wilder ride. Following the breakout success of the first season, the new chapter amps up everything—more explosions, more mayhem, and deeper emotional arcs—while introducing fan-favorite characters like Calypso and Dollface in bold, unexpected ways. Showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith returns with a bigger, bloodier, and funnier vision, one that leans into the franchise's absurd roots while carving out new emotional territory through the bond between John Doe and Quiet. In this exclusive interview, he dives into the challenges of bringing the game’s carnage to life, balancing heart and humor, and what it means to adapt nostalgia for a new generation.

Q: What was the biggest challenge in adapting Twisted Metal from game to screen ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: I mean, where we have—and I want to do it practically. I didn’t want to just have CG cars. I wanted real, physical cars. And I think the biggest trick is making sure the cars are real, making sure they have character, making sure they have detail. And honestly, it’s something that involves not just the car department, it’s the stunt department, it’s the production design. Yes. And it’s something that takes a lot of time. We had multiples of these cars, but what’s great is that everyone who is a part of the show loves the show, loves the creativity. I make sure that everyone is an artist and really wants to make sure that they’re really letting their creativity, their imagination explode—no pun intended.

Q: How did you find the balance between chaotic action and deeper character arcs ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: It always starts with character—with our show, it always starts with character. We’re always thinking about, well look, we’re lucky that with Twisted Metal, every character has a wish. Everyone has a drive, so to speak. So, we’re always thinking about what is pushing these characters forward. With our show, it’s about John Doe and Quiet’s love story. So, we’re always making sure that it’s always coming from a character perspective, and then we can have some fun. I mean, our show is about—you know, we really want to lean into the fact that we have a character that lights his head on fire. So, we wanted to really lean into the fun of this show, but it always has to start from a character perspective.

Q: Was there a particular episode or moment that best captures your vision for the show ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: Yeah, I mean, I think this season it’s the start of the tournament, of course. What’s great about the start of the tournament is that it really is all these characters coming together. You’ve got John Doe played by Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz meeting Sweet Tooth again. They reunite. And so you’ve got characters from season one meeting new characters. You’ve got Axel and Grimm, played by Mike Shawn and Richard DeClerk. You’ve got Dollface played by Tiana Okoye. You’ve got Mayhem played by Sailor. All these old and new characters coming together. It’s like our cinematic universe. And then you’ve got all these relationships being thrown into a pot. And then you’ve got the action starting. So, you get to see in real time all of these amazing relationships boiling, boiling, boiling—and then exploding.

Q: Season 2 ups the stakes—how did your writing evolve compared to Season 1 ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: I think what I learned so much about Season 1 is—like I said, in Season 1, I think I loved seeing the fan response. They understood, like, “Oh, I love these characters, I love this comedy, I love this world.” I think the world took people by surprise—post-apocalypse. So, we didn’t want to change any of that. So instead, we just went bigger. We have more comedy. We have more action—three times as much action as Season 1. We have more characters, more episodes, bigger, bigger. The show’s just more. And I think what I also lean into is we just want to lean into what makes Twisted Metal Twisted Metal. Like I said, this is a show that has a character that lights his hair on fire. We want to lean into more of that stuff—more of the supernatural, more Calypso, more Axel—things like that.

Q: You’ve leaned hard into absurdity and camp. How do you decide when to push it and when to pull back ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: I mean, I think I really, really just kept pushing. I think there’s no limit to where we could push. I mean, I think where—if it got a little too dark, it’s just sad. Where I was like, “No, no, no. It’s too sad.” This is a show that’s joyful. I think there are other apocalypse shows that are dystopian, and I think—I love those shows. Our show is an apocalyptic show that’s fun. When I adapted this show, I played the video game. I love the video game—Twisted Metal Black. And when I’m playing that game, my fondest memories are driving at top speeds, blowing up my best friend, hopping, and just like hitting a ramp, throwing a missile at the right time. And that’s what I wanted to adapt—the fun of the game. And you should be watching this show with the biggest, dumbest smile on your face. And that’s what I really want to bring to this. So that is what I kept pushing. If you aren’t smiling while watching the show, then I’m not doing my job.

Q: How involved were you in shaping the show’s music and nu-metal-infused tone ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: So, the music—I spend so much time on. I’m proud of the music. I picked like 90% of the songs, and I really wanted to capture that ‘90s/early 2000s sound. Yes. And obviously, as we hear in one of the trailers—Rob Zombie’s in this. You’ve got to do it. And so we really did pick some nu-metal. I also wanted to highlight all the genres in the ‘90s to make sure that if you were growing up in the ‘90s and 2000s, there’s a song that you played in your CD collection—that was in your binder.

Q: What made Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz the perfect John and Quiet ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: What I love so much about working with Anthony and Stephanie—Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz. Anthony has so much charisma. He’s so funny. He’s just like—I mean, he’s just got such a winning smile, winning personality. And Stephanie is just hysterical. I mean, she’s just so great. She has amazing eyes—expressive. And the two of them together are just absolute dynamite. They play off each other. They push each other’s buttons in the show. And the two of them together are just the perfect couple because you just watch as they don’t agree, they push each other, but you want them to make the best of each other. You know what I mean? And that’s what you want in a couple like this. And in the show, they are going through the hardest thing. They’re going through a tournament and they have 16 other players trying to kill them. So, you want to feel that in their relationship.

Q: Was the John–Quiet relationship always meant to be the emotional anchor ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: So to me, their relationship is so important. It’s a really personal story because honestly, a lot of it comes from my relationship with my wife—because I talk a lot, as you can tell, and my wife taught me how to shut up every once in a while. And I really wanted to bring that emotional heartbeat to this—to the show. In a show like this, where there’s so much action, it doesn’t matter if you don’t care about these characters. And John and Quiet—I love that relationship. And every story starts with: where are John and Quiet in their relationship? And if we have an episode, it’s about John and Quiet having the worst day at the worst possible time—right smack in the middle of the tournament.

Q: What inspired the additions of Calypso and Dollface, and how do they shift the story in Season 2 ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: So, Calypso’s involvement in the storyline—I mean, he’s the MC of the tournament, the creator of the tournament. So, he’s bringing all these characters in who have all these wishes, have all these wants, and he’s the one who’s inventing all these machinations and seeing how they’re all going to tick. How are all these relationships and high personalities and all these wishes—what is it going to be like for them all to be together? And he’s just sitting back and watching with a big old smile on his face—that incredible laugh. And Anthony Carrigan is a dream. He brings so much of himself to the show. I love working with Anthony. He’s such a perfect addition to our season. I love—I think everyone’s going to love seeing him. He’s the perfect Calypso. And then Dollface, played by Tiana Okoye—she’s so great because, as we revealed at the end of Season 1, she’s John Doe’s sister. So, Dollface is John Doe’s sister. And what’s so great about their relationship is that Dollface has all of these memories about John, but John has no memories about his sister. So, so much of this season is about how do you square that? How does this sibling relationship come to pass when you don’t have any memories about your sibling? It’s about them rebuilding the relationship and growing as siblings.

Q: How different was production in Toronto compared to the chaos of New Orleans ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: So, I just want to say—I mean, I loved shooting in New Orleans. I think New Orleans was so much fun. The crew was unbelievable. But it was so difficult because it rained all the time. We would have to stop shooting for three hours a day. That’s tough when you have cars outside. I mean, knowing that this next season was going to be even more car action and tournament, and like I said, so much more action—we made the difficult decision to move. So, we moved to Toronto and I’ll just say, I loved shooting in Toronto. We had an unbelievable crew this season. We got very lucky with the weather because, as you know, Toronto also has difficult weather with snow, but we left right when it started getting cold. And it was a dream shooting in Toronto. I mean, we were able to do some unbelievable stunts this year with an incredible team, and I think the proof is in the pudding when you see what we were able to pull off this year.

Q: The New San Francisco sets look massive—what was the most ambitious set piece to film ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: I think the most—I mean, yeah, we had some unbelievable sets this year. I think one of my favorite sets outside of the car stuff was a location called The Fern. Okay—which was an old power station that was not used anymore. They—I don’t know what the word is—discontinued it? I guess they decommissioned it. So, we had full reign of the place. And I mean, there’s so much production value in that. And what we turned it into is a place that I don’t want to spoil, but it’s an amazing location. I think the fans are going to love what we turned it into. We took a location that’s mentioned in the games multiple times, but we turned it into our spin—our apocalyptic spin. Yes. And I think the fans are going to love what we do with that place. There’s just so much grime and grit and detail, and some amazing characters interact there.

Q: Were you surprised by how well the show performed on Peacock, especially with the mixed reviews ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: Yeah, I mean, I think that when we premiered, I was very pleased with the response. Yes. When you adapt a game that had its height in the ‘90s and 2000s—the last game came out in 2002, almost what, 10 years ago, a decade or so—yes, you never know how people are going to respond, especially when you take some, you know, big swings. And I think the fact that the fans got it and we weren’t wrong—I was thrilled. Yes. I was so happy that the fans loved it. And I think the fans are going to be so happy to see that we gave them even more this year, and I can’t wait for them to see it.

Q: What role do fan events like Comic-Con play in shaping the series’ future ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: I think interacting with the fans, being at Comic-Con—I think it just inspires you. Yes, of course. I think being able to talk to you—thank you—and to the fans and just being energized to do this more. Yes. And hearing what people want to see, being able to show off clips—yes. I think it just reinvigorates you. And I came away with some ideas. I haven’t seen some of the actors in almost a year. We’re shooting, and being able to talk to them—it just gets you raring to go. I’m pumped. We premiere—as of now, we premiere July 31st, and I’m just so stoked for the show to come out and to just blow everyone away.

Q: What can we expect beyond Season 2—and would you ever want to bring Twisted Metal Black elements into the show ?

Michael Jonathan Smith: I think obviously I don’t want to spoil anything, but when you watch the finale of Season 2, you’ll have a very clear idea where we can go. And I’ll just say—I have a very cool idea for Season 4, which is awesome. So, I think look—if you guys keep watching it, I’m going to keep writing it. My writing team is amazing. So, I just want to keep doing this for you guys.

Synopsis : 
In a post-apocalyptic world, American society is divided between the haves and the have-nots. The former live in fortified cities, isolated from the latter, who are condemned to fend for themselves and survive as best they can. John Doe, a marginal, manages to get by by working as a transporter. He is fearless, has a big mouth and is a good driver. With the help of a mute car thief, he embarks on a journey across the country to deliver a mysterious package. On their way, this unlikely duo will face sinister looters, law enforcement officers of dubious morality, a sociopathic clown and many other deadly dangers.

Twisted Metal
Based on Twisted Metal by Sony Interactive Entertainment
Developed by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and, Michael Jonathan Smith
Showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith
Starring  Anthony Mackie, Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Seanoa, Will Arnett, Thomas Haden Church
Music by Leo Birenberg, Zach Robinson
Executive producers : Michael Jonathan Smith, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Anthony Mackie, Will Arnett, Marc Forman, Jason Spire, Kitao Sakurai, Peter Principato, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Hermen Hulst
Cinematography : James McMillan
Editors : Michael Giambra, Heather Capps, Travis Sittard
Production companies : Wicked Deed, Reese Wernick Productionsn Make It with Gravyn, Inspire Entertainment, Electric Avenue, Artists First, PlayStation Productions, Universal Television, Sony Pictures Television Studios
Network : Peacock
Release July 27, 2023 –Present
Running time : 23–32 minutes

Video : Boris Colletier / Mulderville
Photos : Haitem Gasmi / Mulderville