Something interesting is happening over at Adult Swim. The recent release of a new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie after the show’s cancelation in 2015 was quite a surprise, but it isn’t the only instance where the experimental late-night comedy block is retrieving something golden from the past. The Emmy-winning King Star King is back for a new half-hour special, King Star King!/!/!/, nearly a decade since it last aired new episodes, and the wild world of Ballmastrz: 9009 is back with a half-hour special, Ballmastrz: Rubicon, three years after its most recent episodes.

What differentiates this from the usual trend of nostalgia sweeping the nation like an airborne toxic event is that these special returns are just that — special. Each one is a bit different from the series it originated from, both in form and content; all of them are kind of meta about the fact that they’re returning after an absence; each is a one-time release, at least for now. What else sets them apart from reboots in the age of nostalgia? These are actually delightful. Christy Karacas (Ballmastrz: Rubicon) and J.J. Villard (King Star King!/!/!/) spoke with MovieWeb about bringing their shows back for longer specials and the changes that they’ve made.

Christy Karacas on His Love Letter to Anime

Warner Bros. Television

When Karacas moved from his beloved series Superjail to Ballmastrz: 9009, he surprised many people who thought that his hyper-violent, ADHD animation style was all that he could do. Ballmastrz is indebted to sci-fi and sports anime (and the unique films that combine those two genres, like Rollerball), and has a very different tone and aesthetic from Superjail. It’s a delightfully wacky series set in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity is kept in order by something called The Game, a violent but beloved sport run by the godlike Crayzar.

The charismatic Natasha Lyonne voices one of The Game’s most famous players, Gaz Digzy, who is kind of like the Antonio Brown of this world (an all-around garbage person who is great at the sport). When Digzy gets into trouble yet again and emerges from rehab out of shape and disgruntled, Crayzar forces her to play on the worst team in The Game, the Leptons, where she slowly bonds with its lovable misfits and weirdos. Ballmastrz is a loving ode to its influences and gets increasingly genuine and heartfelt while maintaining its surrealist absurdities. “It’s not a parody at all, ever,” said Karacas, who is an anime fan but was always hesitant to adapt his style to it. For him, perfection is the enemy of progress.

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“I’d loved anime forever, and I just never thought I could make it,” said Karacas. “I thought, ‘Well, I can’t make an anime, I don’t draw good enough, I won’t be able to do it right.’ […] It took a really long time to kind of crack the nut or whatever. And when I finally said, ‘Okay, I can’t make this perfect, I just have to make my version of anime, or my kind of love letter to anime,’ then it kind of started coming together. I stopped worrying about comparing it to stuff. When you make anything, if you keep comparing yourself to something, you’re just gonna see what’s bad about it.”

Ballmastrz: Rubicon

The new special is exhilarating fun, brimming with the kind of epic world-building, imaginative characters, relentless action, and silly comedy that Karacas often had to stuff into episodes of the series, which were half the length. “We always wanted it to be a half hour because it’s so hard to cram the stories into 11 minutes,” explained Karacas. “I think this special’s better than all of them. Well, maybe not better, but we’re all so happy with it, it just felt really good. It feels like what the show should be, it just feels right.”

Ballmastrz: Rubicon follows some of the startling revelations at the end of season two back in 2020, and as such, is very plot-heavy. Discussing it in much detail would ruin some of the surprises of the special and the show itself, so suffice it to say, the new special is big, bold, and beautifully animated. Right from the bat, fans of the series can tell that something has changed. “We switched studios, we did it at STUDIO4℃ in Japan,” said Karacas, who explained that he always worked with and loved Titmouse (which is responsible for many Adult Swim shows), but that he truly wanted the special to dive into the actual anime world. “It was like a dream, because they’re one of my favorite anime studios, ever.” Karacas’ passion is contagious; he has the same energy, excitement, and enthusiasm of his shows.

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Not only did Karacas get to work with STUDIO4℃, but also with the legendary Takashi Nakamura, the legendary animation director who has worked on Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Robot Carnival, A Tree of Palme, and of course, Akira. It’s a crack team, and Ballmastrz: Rubicon is a feast for the eyes as a result. It takes the show from the mysterious revelations of season two and builds an exciting bridge that could lead to a very different season three, which is set up not just by the animation but by the narrative’s conclusion. “Doing the special was always the plan,” emphasized. “We wanted to do a season three, but they didn’t. So they said, ‘Do a special,’ and the special is basically setting up what the show would — will — become. So we’re hoping it does well and that we get to do season three, or at least a couple more specials.”

J.J. Villard and King Star King!/!/!/

Villard is returning with his own special, which seems to have been born from similarly random circumstances. “It started with a phone call from Adult Swim about two years ago,” began Villard. “They called me up, and they said, ‘We’re sorry.’ For what? ‘For canceling King Star King.’ I was like, no problem!” Villard had worked on Trap Universe, Uncle Grandpa, and J.J. Villard’s Fairy Tales (not to mention working for DreamWorks for years, which “made [his] heart cold”) and always seems to be moving forward, so it’s interesting to see him revisit the world of King Star King. However, it’s kind of brilliant, because he does so in a way that reflects his own development and changes over the past decade.

“As I was drawing the ripped and muscular old King Star King, it just didn’t feel right,” explained Villard. “You know, I was in my late 20s, early 30s when I first created that character, and I was out of my mind, partying all the time, out all night, just raging, and I’m not that person anymore. I love being at home, watching my favorite shows now, and just being comfortable not out on the streets. So since then, I’ve lost hair. I’ve gained some weight, and I have a family. You’ve got to kind of put yourself into these characters, and that’s what I did with this new special.”

Yes, in the new special, King Star King!/!/!/, the muscular demigod King Star King is a schlubby family man who works for Amazon in ‘the normal zone’ for certain reasons we won’t spoil here. It’s a surprising shift, and the animation has changed to accompany it (though it’s still just as incredibly detailed). There’s a reason for that. “Just like all of us, 10 years ago, I was into different [expletive] than I am now. The only artist I think was still reflected in this new one is Kevin O’Neill, who created Marshall Law and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He’s always been a big inspiration of mine, may he rest in peace.” Villard continued:

Other than that, though, it’s completely changed. The artists I liked then are not at all what I like now. Greg Sharp is a new artist I’m so inspired by, I love his work, and I was so fortunate enough to give him a phone call and ask him if he would like to be the art director, and he said yes. And you gotta understand, like, I was so lucky and fortunate to have my number one art director say yes to this project, because you don’t get that often. It was something I wanted to take full advantage of, in all its capacity.

King Star King and… Andie MacDowell?

Warner Bros. Television

Joining the cast of King Star King!/!/!/ (which includes Tommy Blacha, Will Sasso, Rachel Butera, and Justin Roiland) is Andie MacDowell, the beloved star of many great films and series (Groundhog Day, Sex Lies and Videotape, Short Cuts, Maid, and so on). It’s a kind of a random bit of casting that actually works wonderfully, considering that the titular character has seemingly settled down in a ‘normal’ world of nine-to-five jobs that don’t include talking waffles and robotic rabbits. MacDowell’s characteristically Southern, teasing, and soft voice is a wonderful choice to acquaint viewers with this new world.

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Nonetheless, it is a tad weird to see MacDowell in a wild Adult Swim series like this, but it’s, as they say, kind of a funny story.

So we’re casting the all the characters, and I was like, “Who do I want to be Katrina? Who do I want to be King Star King’s wife?” My own wife came home one day, she says, “Oh, I just took Dracula out on a walk.” Dracula’s our dog. She goes, “A lady walked up to me and said, ‘Oh my god, that is a beautiful dog. What kind of dog is it?'” And my wife said Pomeranian, and she said his name is Dracula. And my wife looked, and it was Andie MacDowell. I go, “Andie MacDowell! That’s who I’m gonna have!” […] Saturday, I was walking my dog, and someone goes, ‘There’s Frankenstein!’ I turned around and it was Andie. I go, “Andie, his name’s Dracula, but I don’t care, our cartoon’s coming out!” And she was really excited about the cartoon.

King Star King May Be Coming Back After a Changed Ending

Warner Bros. Television

The King Star King special was liked so much by the heads of Adult Swim that they actually asked Villard to change the closed ending to a more open-ended finale that could lead to a new series. “They’re like, ‘We need you to change the end to make it seem like it’s a continuation of the series.’ […] So, as you can tell, it looks like a Christmas special. But because of all the changes and all that, it got pushed two months, so it’s a Valentine’s special.”

Villard shared the original ending they had planned — “We just created like a one-off. In the original ending, we had Star God (who was played by John Waters) looking and watching everyone open Christmas gifts, and he’s not part of the family, and he’s really upset, because he betrayed King Star King. So we had him drinking whiskey and playing a saxophone, walking off into the moonlight, and then the next morning, we had him frozen over, kind of like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Kids were ice skating on top of him.”

It’s quite a different ending, but this new conclusion, like Ballmastrz: Rubicon, would allow the show to lead into something both familiar and different, an exciting new chapter, and it’s something Villard would do. “We’ve just got to see how it does, and hopefully it’s received really well. I mean, I would just love to have Andie MacDowell as Katrina and King Star King fight Joe Rogan. That’d be great. Or Logan Paul. I think that would be so fun, to have those kinds of adventures go down.”

Fingers are tightly crossed because these two Adult Swim specials deliver the goods. King Star King!/!/!/ premiered on Adult Swim on February 13, and is available on HBO Max, and all episodes of the original series are currently available on Adult Swim.com. Ballmastrz: Rubicon premieres on Adult Swim at midnight on Monday, February 20, and the next day on HBO Max, where all episodes of Ballmastrz: 9009 are currently available.