Three years after its last season,Netflix’s lauded animated anthology seriesLove, Death + Robotsis back for Volume 4. In this installment, fans of the 13-time Emmy Award-winning show can expect 10 new short films of various lengths exploring genres like sci-fi, horror, and humor.
Since it first aired in 2019,Love, Death + Robotshas earned high praisefrom both critics and viewers alike for its blend of cutting-edge animation with impactful tales, such as Season 3’s fan-favorite “Jibaro” episode. Now,Love, Death + RobotsVolume 4 brings eight animation studios, some of which are new to the series, while others are familiar faces. To learn more about how Vol. 4 came to be, Game Rant spoke with series creator and executive producer Tim Miller, supervising director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, and director Robert Valley.The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
How Love, Death + Robots Vol. 4 Selected Its New Stories
Q: Which new sci-fi or fantasy themes were you excited to explore inLove, Death + RobotsVol. 4?
Yuh Nelson:I think that’s a hard one to answer, because we don’t necessarily think of it as being sci-fi or fantasy things when we’re first exploring stories. It’s just about whether it’s a good story. And I think we’re both very genre geeks. We lovescience fiction. We love all that because it allows us to explore all these different worlds. But it really comes down to the many cool stories that we wanted to do this time, so it came first to: “That was a cool story, and hopefully we could do that.”
Miller:I am surprised that it took us almost four seasons to get to killing some Nazis. I’m really glad that we got to some Nazi death, even though it took us four seasons. That was my personal quest, and it’s been achieved.
Q: Artificial Intelligence is a recurring theme inLDR. In recent years, there’s been a rise in the use of AI in daily lives. Do you think Vol. 4 could have a different impact than previous installments with the current popularity of AI?
Miller:I think it becomes harder to do stories that talk about what AI might do when, every day, we’re confronted with what AI is doing. I read a lot of science fiction, and I can honestly say that what’s happening now is not the way I, or any of the science fiction authors I read, guessed it would happen. Which is, I guess, the way a lot of life happens.
But I didn’t expect it to come this fast or this soon, and in quite this way. It seems to sort of explode on the scene, in a way that I think will change everything. And it’ll happen sooner than I and a lot of other people certainly thought. I come at it with both fear and excitement for it. I do think that, if we do AI stories in the future, what’s happening right now will affect which stories we choose and how we tell them.
Assembling the Team Behind Volume 4
Q: EachLDRepisode has its distinct animation style. How did you choose the right returning or new directors and studios for Season 4?
Yuh Nelson:We worked with some really amazing directors and studios. So it was a case of, well, we already have this great relationship with them, so why not come back and let them do something crazy or newer? The case of Robert Valley, for instance. It is thethird short that he’s done forLDR, and each one is utterly different from the other. And this time it is this huge, action-packed version of the “400 Boys” story, which I thought was unfilmable, but he ended up making something absolutely beautiful out of it. So we know some quantities as far as what they can do, because they’re amazing.
We also have new people coming in that may not have directed for us before, but it’s a mix and match. We already have such great collaborators. Why not come back to some of them again? And in this season’s case, we have Tim and David Fincher directing. Obviously amazing directors, and they just want to play. So, why not?
Q: Robert, your art style is very unique and full of expressions. How do you think it adapted to the story of “400 Boys”?
Valley:Oh, man. Well, in this particular case, the story needed some things to tell it properly. And so I gathered up the references that I thought met those needs. Specifically, live-action movies, which are usually where I get my references from. And so, it wasThe Warriors, that movie from the 80s, and a Brazilian movie calledCity of God. Those were my main cinematic references.The Warriorswas more for character design and just generally the vibe of the group of characters. AndCity of Godwas instrumental in palette, dealing with multiple characters, camera movement. Kind of a gritty, garage-type style of filmmaking, which you see in live action, but I wanted to try to recreate that with animation.
Q: What was it like to return toLDRfor Volume 4?
Valley:It was fantastic. I love it. I mean, I wasn’t expecting to get the call. It kind of came out accidentally. I literally ran into Tim here in Vancouver. He was here for an event, and we ended up having a drink together, and that’s the first time I’ve actually sat across from him, face to face. And he says: “We gotanother season ofLove, Death + Robotscoming up. You want to do an episode?” I said: “Sure.” But maybe if I hadn’t seen him, I might not have come up in this crop of shorts. I’m totally happy it happened, and I definitely didn’t want to disappoint anybody. So we took on a very challenging episode, and we wanted to do our best.
Q: There are a lot of known talents inLDRVol. 4. How do you match the right voice actor to the vision of each episode?
Yuh Nelson:Casting. So much about casting, and some of them are Tim’s friends.
Miller:Yes. You’ll notice a lot of the actors are people who have been in movies. I think they’re great actors, and I know they’ll do it, which is very important. Ivy Isenberg, our casting director, does a great job at sort of putting people in front of us who are right for the role. You want to work with great actors, but you also want to work with people who can really draw fans in that they’re going to get excited about. So you have a few movie stars in there.
Q: Tim, between Volumes 3 and 4, you worked on some other major projects, like Amazon’sSecret Leveland theSonic the Hedgehogmovies. Were there any lessons learned in these projects that helped shapeLove, Death + Robots' fourth season?
Miller:I would say it was kind of the reverse, whereSecret Levelbenefited from the methodology that we developed forLove, Death + Robots. We go to these boutique animation companies that do great quality work, and then we work with a lot of our authors who are great writers. And I tried to recreate thatprocess withSecret Levelby having these authors write original stories, so it was almost the reverse effect.
The Growth of Love, Death + Robots
Q: How do you thinkLove, Death + Robotshas evolved from Volume 1 to 4?
Valley:I was revisiting the catalog over the last little while, and I’ve been watching the episodes. And to me, it seems like this season, in particular, the collection of short films left an overall impression, like it’s developing collectively. I don’t know about improvement, but this selection of stories is really interesting, and the art styles that go along with it are all different enough and fall under theLove, Death + Robotsumbrella. It’s going to be a good watch for sure.
Yuh Nelson:Each season has a bit of its own personality. Even the people who are coming back, I think, are learning from previous shows that they did. It’s just neat to see what they’re capable of now. Each year, technology moves on, skills move on, and the ways artists do things have moved on. And to see what they can experiment with that much ability is part of the journey.
Miller:I would say that Volume 1 feels like it was done by a 13-year-old boy, and Volume 4 - or maybe 2, 3, and 4 - you can see that boy grow up, get a girlfriend, and realize that he has to behave slightly better and more intelligently. That’s sort of what it is. You can’t say the kind of things you say when you’re 13. So we’re 16 now. Still plenty of stupid left, but trying to get smarter.
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