SDCC 2026 Interview: “Heads Will Roll” With Kate McKinnon and Emily Lynne

Kate McKinnon and Emily Lynne, co-creators and stars, discuss their original Audible comedy series Heads Will Roll, now in its second season.

In addition to Dungeon Crawler Carl, Audible also featured original adult comedy series Heads Will Roll at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Sisters Kate McKinnon and Emily Lynne co-create and star in the series. The series follows McKinnon as Queen Mortuana, a tyrant in a fantasy world and Lynne as JoJo, her human-turned-bird sidekick. The first season featured a variety of guest stars including Peter Dinklage and Meryl Streep. The second season promises to have more hijinks, evil plans, and more guest stars, including Megan Mullaly and Patti LuPone. The Geekiary sat down with McKinnon and Lynne to learn more about the series and its newly released second season.

Regarding their favorite episode of the series, both McKinnon and Lynne are excited about a season two episode featuring Sabrina Impacciatore. “We did an episode where Mortuana is trying to find a nanny for her soon-to-be child, and this Mediterranean goddess walks in and [Mortuana] and Richard Kind are both obsessed with her. And we got Sabrina Impacciatore to play this woman. She has the most sultry voice on the planet,” McKinnon shared. She also added, “She was in LA and we were in New York, so I’ve never actually met her but I feel that I know her.”

When asked about their collaboration process as siblings, McKinnon and Lynne agreed that there is minimal conflict between them. “We’re very similar in the way that we are. We’re also worried about making each other mad,” McKinnon explained. “We have a language all our own that is comprised of quotes from movies that we watched over and over as children,” McKinnon added.

Lynne shared the process of creating her character. “JoJo is based loosely on a friend of mine who is so utterly sincere and a little dippy.” She then added, “That’s not really how she sounds, but it’s a heightened version of how she sounds. And I’ve just been doing that voice for years and years and years. The contrast between the stately queen and then her truly idiotic little bird sidekick, I feel like that’s a dynamic for the ages.”

McKinnon and Lynne also are involved in the creation of the songs that are included in each episode. “We both play the piano and we always sang together, although Emily has a way, way better voice than I do,” McKinnon explained. “We wrote them at the piano and then our amazing composer Benny made them into tracks.”

McKinnon also talked about the benefits of using an audio-only medium to tell the story. “You’re not just watching it from a screen, the noise is in your brain and you feel so immersed in the experience. That’s really kind of unique and special, I think.” McKinnon later added, “And also on a production level, you don’t have to worry about continuity. So you can cut anything without incident and it’s pure storytelling. It’s pure… you can get the best joke, you can get the tightest version of a scene. You can rerecord a whole scene without spending a lot of money. It’s a dream because you can just keep working on it without a block of reshoots. It’s so fun.”

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Heads Will Roll is currently available on Audible.

You can keep up with The Geekiary’s San Diego Comic-Con 2026 coverage here.

Author: Jessica Wolff

Jessica Wolff is a graduate of Drexel University with a BS in Film/Video. She has a passion for entertainment and representation in entertainment. She currently resides outside of Washington, DC.

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