I met with Charles Huettner, co-creator of the MAX twelve-episode series, Scavengers Reign which follows four crew members who are left to survive on a wild alien world. Light-years away from earth, their sole hope of salvation lies in their crashed ship The Demeter. The series explores how our greatest needs, even when humanity is capable of intergalactic travel, will still be food, water, and each other. Following its cancellation at MAX, Scavengers Reign has been picked up by Netflix and awaits the green light for a second season. After a string of emails over two months, Charles spoke to me about his journey in television, the themes of the show, and creating original content in the entertainment industry.

How did Scavengers Reign evolve from a YouTube short into a twelve-episode MAX series? 

We showed the short in 2020 to the head of Adult Swim, Mike Lasso. He said, “Hey, this could be a pilot! Let’s green light this thing.” He was on the way out and ready to take a chance. But the impending company merger between Warner and AT&T loomed over everything. For a while, we didn’t even know if it’d get made. Once Adult Swim merged with HBO, they said to me and Joe Benett (co-creator of the show), “We want your stuff.” Before, I didn’t really have much interest in working in television. 

What do you like about making sci-fi?

Being able to depict the unreal is very appealing. Like, OK, if Sam has to die, how is he going to do so in a way that is believable? We tried to make it weird and uncomfortable with the opening hole in his chest, which was actually inspired by a real-life thing called ‘gastro entomologist’ or something like that. That wording is wrong, so get it right in the interview. (The correct term is gastroenterologist.)

Sounds pretty gross! What did that have to do with the theme of ‘scavenging’? I’m curious because, in the show, humans are capable of interstellar travel but are fundamentally limited by the natural circumstances of life, like food, water, and death. Does the show take a stance on human progress, comparing technological advancement with life-or-death survival in the wilderness?  

That’s the entire point of the show, being a scavenger. We wanted the characters to be in a place where they’re not supposed to be. The people who survive aren’t well equipped but adapt to survive and make use of the planet to their advantage. 

What, then, is your stance on the balance between humanity and nature?

Nature is universal. It’s the closest thing to a physical God that we have in the sense that nature is your point of reference for everything. There is nothing that is unnatural. Even the computer we’re using to communicate right now is only as technological as we want to make it seem, it is of the earth in every sense of the word. It was not delivered to us by aliens. We think of climate change as something that will kill the planet, but planets exist on the timeline of aeons. The planet doesn’t give a shit because it’s like, “This ant just happened to walk on my leg. It’s going to fall off at some point, and I’ll live another 100 million years.” We talk about global warming in the sense that we’re destroying the planet, but what we’re actually doing is destroying ourselves. Earth has been destroyed multiple times in the past millions of years ago, and it’s bounced back every single time. We’re the ones who have to suffer the consequences.

What frustrations do you have with modern sci-fi television or animation? Anything you would particularly like to trash?

I just watched a bit of Foundation on Apple Plus. I liked the book, but it’s weird to how these characters that are supposed to be living on the fringes of the universe look beautiful, have perfect manicures and hairstyles. Like, they spend more time prepping their hand than being core survivalists. That’s a fantasy. It’s something I like to call ‘the weight of existence.’ That is, there is a certain weight on a human just simply from existing. Depicting that through the characters would separate Scavengers from the other sci-fi shows. Our thing was like, nobody wants to go to Mars because they have their shit together. If you’re signing up to live on Maris, you’re spiraling.

Did the Writers’ Strike affect you? 

No, not really. Joe and I aren’t in the Guild, and we finished production before the strikes. Generally speaking, the odds are against you; major television networks are so risk averse right now. That’s such a huge reason as to why networks are financially struggling. They’re buying each other, spending money on the wrong things. How do they generate profits? Cut content. Cut shows. Cut movies. The risk goes down and safe stuff like Star Wars, Marvel, and IP goes up. But the pendulum is always swinging. We got lucky.

What about A.I.? Has that affected your work?

It wasn’t an issue for us making the show back in 2021, but it’s the big monster in the room right now. A lot of studios are using it.  I have no interest in AI. I’m not even the kind of person who thinks it’s ugly, but its very nature is soulless. That to me kind of touches on art in general. To me, art is connecting with another human being to see something that somebody else thought was worth creating and making and presenting to the world. That to me is infinitely more interesting than the sickest render imaginable.

So, is it harder to make something original today than in the past? 

It’s harder to make something original because an original idea has the disadvantage of not having a built-in audience. Of course, people say only stuff like The Simpsons gets made because that’s true to an extent. Networks just want the cash cow of an insanely popular thing that’s easy to make, but in these networks, there are people who are fans of original stuff. They want to work on something that feels different and exciting. I want to say this to anybody struggling: no matter how strange you think your idea is, don’t let that be a deterrent for trying to get it made. Yes, the odds are against you. Even if the industry was healthy and awesome, that’d still be the case, but it’ll never happen if you don’t pitch it. ∎

 

Words by Griffin Gudaitis. Art by Nikhil Karun.