GETTING DISENCHANTED

Disenchantment creator Matt Groening reveals the origins of his latest animated series

How long has this idea been percolating?

Ten years, maybe? I know I started drawing and really thinking about it in 2012 — that’s the date on my sketchbook. I started drawing pictures of elves and demons and princesses and taking all kinds of notes on the possibilities for fantasy.

Why fantasy?

I love creating new worlds. I love the idea of a self-contained animated universe. The Simpsons

was a fairly straightforward template of a conservative family. One of the difficulties with Futurama was that doing the genre was not as satisfying as going for real emotion. It was much harder to write than The Simpsons. We were a bit hog-tied by the science-fiction. It’s the same with fantasy — there are only so many elf jokes you can make before you have to tell a real story.

It’s quite dark. Were you aiming for an older audience?

The Simpsons and Futurama are adult comedies, too. It’s not crass and unpleasant, the way some adult animation can be. It’s pretty friendly — I just don’t think it’s for impressionable kids.

A lot of people die… That’s fantasy! It’s not just a jolly scene down the pub. You’ve got to push it. The fantasy we’re really sending up is medieval fantasy, and there was a lot of dark stuff going on back then. To me, the best fantasy is where things are not what they seem. We’ve put in a lot of secret clues for people who enjoy looking for Easter eggs.