The Bondsmanis a wild ride of demons, gore and country music, with Kevin Bacon thrown in.
Its fun, its funny, its bloody, and its somehow a heartfelt family story.
The series is the latest collaboration between Prime Video and Blumhouse.
Image via Prime Video
Collider: This series is a wild combination of things, but its a really fun ride.
OLESON: Kevin Bacon has been in so much.
Hes worked with every great filmmaker of the last couple of generations.
Hes worked in the horror space.
Hes also done comedy withAnimal House.
Hes done dark drama withMystic River.
Image via Prime
You care because Kevin brings so much of his natural charisma to it.
How did you get involved with this?
How did you come to be the showrunner for this when you didnt create the series?
Amazon read the script, and they sent it to me.
And I said, Wait, I get to work with Blumhouse and Kevin Bacon, slaying demons?
Yes, Im in!
Image via Prime
So, I joined the party.
I ended up creating the show with Grainger and writing the pilot.
I created the mix of elements that became the show that you watched.
Was there like one major thing that you added first, and then everything else fall into place?
All of that goes into the pot.
The Blumhouse show sees Bacon play an undead demon hunter.
How does that define the character for you?
Hes a bounty hunter, theres a wanted notice, and its Kevin Bacon.
Now, hes going up and knocking on the door at an old motel.
Can you make things gorier and bloodier if you then follow them with a laugh?
OLESON: We didnt want it to feel too bloody and off-putting.
One of the things that I very much wanted to do was to enjoy the watch and laugh.
Ive made some dark television shows in the past about some very serious political subjects.
I just wanted to have fun, and I wanted the audience to have fun.
Yes, you’ve got the option to release tension in an audience with an unexpected laugh.
Everybody laughs, but then the murderer comes in with a knife.
Zigging and zagging the audiences experience through laughs and horror makes it work.
Did that also come into play when you were figuring out who these demons would be?
Theres just something so funny about a demon cheerleader.
I wanted to do this mash-up that you werent expecting.
I want to watch that.
What do you love about the family element?
What was it like to get Beth Grant to play Hubs mother?
OLESON: The family dramedy of the show is its heart.
Beth Grant is one of my favorite people on the planet.
She became really good friends with my gal and theyre friends now, off screen.
Shes just so thankful to be working.
Her chemistry with Kevin Bacon is just unbelievable.
You will never see anybody on screen take Kevin Bacon down a few pegs the way that she does.
Nettles also compares ‘The Bondsman’ with ‘The Righteous Gemstones," where she plays Aimee-Leigh Gemstone.
OLESON: Its absolutely crazy.
It was never intended that way.
I would get random texts from Kevin Bacon and Jen Nettles with music attached to it.
Theyd be like, Hey, Erik.
We were just riffing.
What do you think of this?
It was so great.
Some of it is in the show, but there was more than we could even use.
I didnt expect that to happen.
Thats a pinch yourself moment for any showrunner.
If I had said that was the plan in the beginning, nobody would have believed it.
It just happened organically.
It was a joyous and joyful work experience for everyone.
How did this season ending come about?
Lilith tells Hub that he has to follow her if he wants to keep Maryanne alive.
What will that mean for him?
If you get to do another season, do you want to dig into and explore that?
OLESON: I wanted to make it impossibly difficult on Amazon to not give us a Season 2.
That was my evil, devious plan to get us picked up.
Yes,there is future story that I want to tell if were lucky enough to get another season.
Do you hear that Amazon?
hey, with sugar on top, give us more episodes.
How does this Hell-bound adventure end?
Do you have a rule to never show the devil?
Would you do that if you get to Season 10?
OLESON: Lets make a deal right now.
You heard it here first.
If they give me a Season 10, Ill show Hell.
But until that, Im probably going to hold off and let the devil communicate through faxes.
You do a demonic cheerleader.
Thats the formula of this particular show.
Check out the trailer:
