ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Love, Death + Robots creator Tim Miller and supervising director Jennifer Yuh Nelson about the latest batch of episodes of the Netflix anthology series. The two of them discussed working with David Fincher on a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert episode, casting MrBeast, and more.
“Dinosaur gladiators, messianic cats, string-puppet rock stars, it can only be Love, Death & Robots,” the official synopsis for the new season of Love, Death + Robots reads. “The fourth volume, presented by Tim Miller (Deadpool, Terminator: Dark Fate) and David Fincher (Mindhunter, The Killer), sees Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2, Kill Team Kill) return as supervising director for ten startling shorts showcasing the series’ signature, award-winning style of bleeding-edge animation, horror, sci-fi and humor. Buckle up.”
Love, Death + Robots Volume IV will be released on Netflix on May 15, 2025.
Brandon Schreur: My first question is for both of you. You lead off this new season of Love, Death + Robots with the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert film, directed by David Fincher, where they’re all puppets. That just feels like an insane sentence to be saying out loud, but I loved it so much, I thought it was so much fun. Can you tell me a little about how that all came about and what went into the decision of leading off the season with this?
Tim Miller: Sure. Jennifer, you tell it, this time. I usually tell that one.
Jennifer Yuh Nelson: Because [Fincher] talked to you directly. It’s from the horse’s mouth, if you tell it.
Tim Miller: Alright. I thought we needed a little more star power for this season. So I called David and said, ‘Dude, you need to do one.’ And he goes, ‘Okay, what do you want me to do?’ I said, ‘I want you to do a music video.’ The main reasons for that are A. He’s the king of music videos; he practically invented the form. And B. It limits him to a certain length that he can’t go over. It’s good to put David in a box, in terms of running time.
So, off he went. This idea of doing the Chili Peppers as puppets was something that had been kicking around in his head for a while. So, there was no question about doing it. He immediately said, ‘I’m going to do the Red Hot Chili Peppers as puppets, Team America-style puppets.’ I was like, ‘F—ing great.’ And off we went. He’s such good friends with so many musicians that all he really has to do is call them up and say, ‘Hey, I’d like to do this.’ And they go, ‘Okay, great.’
That’s awesome, I love that. I loved the whole thing, jaw was on the floor, like, wow, what an opening. Jennifer, I really loved your episode in here, too, Spider Rose. I’m a dog owner, and this really hit me in the feels. Just the whole pet aspect to it, that hit hard. This is based on a short story by Bruce Sterling. What kind of stood out to you the most about the story and made you want to adapt it into a Love, Death + Robots episode?
Jennifer Yuh Nelson: It was a bit of a world sequel to Tim’s episode from last season, which was ‘Swarm.’ Because Bruce Sterling’s world is so massive, there’s so much detail, and it’s so well thought-out that you can only see a little bit of it at a time in these little increments that we have. Spider Rose was a way to get back into that world.
It’s so emotional. It’s got so much — as you said, the feels are strong in this one. There’s so much connection with this creature that she finds, it’s about exploring grief, and doing it all in the luxurious, beautiful CG that we could get from Blur, and all in zero gravity. It was always a story that we wanted to do, we just wanted to do it right. In this particular case, I got to play with some really cute, ugly little pets. So it’s great.
Sure. I immediately want one after seeing that.
Jennifer Yuh Nelson: That’s good!
Tim Miller: I think you can see a theme in Jennifer’s work that she likes to have stories with cute things in them, and then they somehow do horrible things or die. I’m not sure why, exactly. Maybe something happened in her childhood. But it’s definitely a theme.
That’s fair, that’s fair. Tim, you also directed two episodes of the new season, here. The first one I watched this morning was Golgotha with the Dolphin-Jesus. Blew my mind. It’s a rare live-action episode in Love, Death + Robots. What was the inspiration for telling this one in live-action vs. animation?
Tim Miller: I like to do one in live-action every now and then just to remind people that we can. It really just felt like — I liked the story, I liked how contained it was, it felt complete. You don’t often find that in a short story, where you get such a beginning, middle, and end. This felt perfect. Because of the nature of it, it just felt right to do it in live-action and to do it grounded. It was so simple. It was easy to do in live-action because we could just drive up the street to Malibu to shoot it. Sometimes animation is the most cost-effective and artistically best way, and sometimes live-action is. I liked the story, first and foremost, and live-action was the way to do it.
Sure. I thought it totally worked, too. I didn’t know where that one was going, but it was a lot of fun. The other one you did, Tim, was The Screaming of the Tyrannosaur. Which was also super fun because it feels like Squid Game meets Jurassic Park meets Star Wars, all kind of rolled into one little episode, there. Then, you cast MrBeast as the announcer in that episode. How did that collaboration come about? What made you think he’d be right for the role?
Tim Miller: First and foremost, he’s a huge fan of the show. I’ve been to his place in North Carolina, he’s got posters in his rooms, and all this other stuff. He really loves the show. So I’ve been looking for a way to put him in an episode, and this one just seemed perfect because he is sort of a master showman, you know. He is that guy, who he plays. Maybe slightly less evil, but he is that guy. It was just the perfect way for him to be in it. So I said, ‘Hey, you want to do this?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, I’m in.’ Then it was just a question of recording his performance and getting it in there.
I’m also really hoping that his inclusion will bring a new audience to the show. The more people that watch, the better. I feel like he has a connection to a fanbase that would really enjoy the show if they just know about it, right? So I’m hoping he gets the word out there for us.
Thanks to Tim Miller and Jennifer Yuh Nelson for discussing Love, Death + Robots Volume IV.
