NYCC 2024: The Cast and Crew of “The Franchise” Break the 4th Wall

Comic cons have always revolved around superheroes. While this used to mean primarily comic books, it has in the past decade or so evolved to include television, movies, and books. So a TV series about making superhero movies is right up that alley. Which is why The Franchise fits right in at this year’s New York Comic Con.

The Franchise is one of HBO’s newest series. Following in the tradition of shows like Extras and The Comeback, The Franchise is a television show about what goes on behind the scenes of a television show. It “follows a hopeful crew who find themselves trapped inside the dysfunctional, nonsensical, joyous hellscape of franchise superhero moviemaking”.

Much of the cast, as well as some of the crew, were on hand to promote the series. I got the chance to speak to stars Aya Cash (Anita), Isaac Powell (Bryson), Darren Goldstein (Pat Shannon), Daniel Brühl (Eric), Lolly Adefope (Dag), Billy Magnussen (Adam), and Himesh Patel (Daniel), as well as writers Rachel Axler and Juli Weiner and showrunner and executive producer Jon Brown.

The cast talked a lot about how confusing it can get, when your television set is a television set – about how jealous they are of the size of the trailers their characters get compared to their own, and how much better crafty (craft services – aka the food) is on the show within a show. There were also some stories about crazy happenings on the actual set, as well as some other productions that they’ve worked on.

(By the way, I’d like to reassure Daniel Brühl, who was very concerned about the way I had to contort myself to fit all four of them in frame, that I am fine!)

The writers talked about coming up with ideas, and whether or not any of the characters are based on anyone specific. (Spoiler alert: no.)

Check out our full interviews with the cast and crew of The Franchise below!

The Franchise is currently streaming on Max.

Stay tuned for more of our coverage from NYCC 2024!

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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