To highlight the launch of the second season of Apple TV+ show "Servant," series producer M. Night Shyamalan today did an hour-long video-based "Ask Me Anything" chat with Reddit users, which Apple has now shared on its YouTube channel.
In addition to serving as producer on "Servant," Shyamalan has also directed three of the episodes to date, and in the AMA, he covered questions about the series and shared details about working with Apple.
When choosing a home for "Servant," Shyamalan said that he considered other streaming companies and held meetings with them, but Apple felt like the right place to him because it was a new service and he felt that he could be a part of "defining" a streaming service like David Fincher did with Netflix's "House of Cards."
I used to say, if Apple ever did something, that's a company I really respect. This was five, six years ago. And when Servant came along and we were going to go out into the marketplace, Apple was just deciding to go into this space of streaming. [...]
I remember the day we went to the Apple meeting. I got out of the car and I went "Please let this go well, this is the one that I want to go well." They were so lovely and gracious and said wonderful things about my previous storytelling and these scripts that we showed them. When I walked out into the parking lot, I turned to my agent, and I said "That's it, that's where we need to be. Make that happen, no matter what."
Maybe it's the legacy of Steve Jobs, maybe it's the company's kind of value system of kind of simplicity and creativity and originality. I read into it a spirituality about them... about maybe what Steve Jobs believed in, a kind of believing in bigger things.
Shyamalan went on to say that it's been "wonderful" growing with Apple, with viewership of season 2 of "Servant" exploding. He also said that Apple trusted Shyamalan on scripts, and when something wasn't understood, they would trust him anyway on the result.
Four episodes of "Servant" season 2 have aired to date, with another set to come out on Friday. Shyamlan's full AMA on the series can be watched in the YouTube video above.
Top Rated Comments
Is the next Mac M1X or M2?
Well, you did say anything...
Product placement worked fine, made sense in context (even the HomePod - it would probably seem slightly incongruous anywhere in that house…).
It's fun to see his enthusiasm about his projects and his willingness to engage with followers, and to hear some back-room fun facts about the show, such as the fact that the kitchen is a working kitchen.
I haven't always liked his past work, but it's enlightening to hear his view of his own career and approach to storytelling.