When Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick were tasked with transforming their in-the-works eighth season of The Venture Bros. to a feature-length finale instead, brutal choices had to be made.
In an interview with Mashable — conducted before the SAG/AFTRA strike — the creators of this early Adult Swim classic shared the difficulties and joys of being asked to kill your darlings. Among those darlings killed in service of The Venture Bros: Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart were two new big bads, more screen time for Hank, Dean, and Brock, as well as a scene with Sirena Ong, who broke Hank's heart by sleeping with his brother at the end of Season 7.
"I miss the Sirena idea," Hammer said, in a discussion with Publick about the characters that didn't make it into the finale. "That's the one thing — because we never got to hear her side of the story."
In Season 7, Hank and Sirena have a sweet but fumbling romantic relationship, which ends abruptly when he finds her in Dean's bed. Having endured a serious headwound earlier in the episode, Hank falls into a coma before the potential love triangle can really dig into what went down. In the season finale, Dean sits at Hank's bedside in a hospital to pour his heart out to his comatose brother. But Sirena doesn't resurface in Season 7. And she only appears in Radiant Is The Blood Of The Baboon Heart in a flashback or Hank's brief fantasy, in which she takes the place of the Statue of Liberty as he tries to flee New York City.
Hammer and Publick wanted more for her — but they also don't want fans to judge her.
Why Doc Hammer regrets leaving Sirena out of The Venture Bros. finale
Credit: Adult SwimHammer began to explain, "I don't want people walking away going —"
"She's a bitch," Publick said, finishing the thought.
"Yeah," Hammer continued. "She's not a bad person. And we understood what happened (between her and Dean). And we wanted to tell people like, 'This is just a part of growing up. These terrible things just happen.'"
For Hammer, it's less about fans seeing what led to the unexpected entanglement, and more about understanding what it meant for Sirena.
"The Venture Bros. is a comforting show," Hammer said, "I know it's nuts. It's about superheroes and stuff. But we make it very balm-like — not bomb but balm." A tiger balm callback from Season 1? "Yeah! A salve. 'It's Tiger Balm.' It's an important aspect to us — that people don't even think about when they watch the show — is that feeling you get after watching it: This is the family that I joined and I want to be a part of and I disagree with."
"The Monarch is a jackass, and he says terrible things," Hammer continued. "And Doc is a horrible narcissist, raised by toxic masculinity. I recognize this pantheon because they're in my life as well. But, I love all of them — as flawed as they are. And [Publick and I, in making the series] constantly walk that line of going, 'This is terrible. But look at the love in here.'"
The Sirena cut scene was meant to walk that line as well. The duo declined to reveal what would have happened in the scrapped Sirena scene. (Maybe they go into it on the DVD's commentary track?) But Hammer did share what he hopes fans realize about Sirena.
"We wanted people to walk away understanding her and understanding what happened," Hammer said. "Obviously, she's not in love with Dean. And hers is a very complicated relationship with Hank because it's his first relationship. And that's the age where we mess up."
"You know, if we can all write an apology letter to every one of our first romantic involvements, we'd all get on that," Hammer mused. "'Oh, I'm so sorry. I've grown up. And everything I did was just wrong. And I don't know why I did it. I don't know who that person was. I am deeply apologetic. I hope no permanent harm was done. How's Steve?'" He said, imagining how such a letter might go — down to the polite query about a current beau.
"We wanted to get a tiny bit of that self-awareness in, but still play it very real and not wrap it up with a bow," he said. "But at least have people understand that The Venture Bros. were never trying to say, 'What a bitch.' We're always trying to say — and we had a whole season to say it but it was torn from us —"
Publick interjected, finishing Hammer's thought about the finale's theme, "What mistakes we make."
The Monarch proved a place of self-reflection for Hammer.
Credit: Adult Swim"This is what people do. And it's not terrible," Hammer said with deep empathy for his characters. "We need more places for forgiveness in this world. We need more places for people to make mistakes and then grow…A place of forgiveness is very important, a place where human beings can stand back and go, 'I'm wrong.'"
From here, Hammer slid into a conversation that seemed less about Sirena, and more about The Monarch, the series' prime villain.
"And we just have been stripped of that place," Hammer said, referring more broadly to society, "Because the minute somebody's kind of wrong, they're ganged up on. And it's very hard for them to go, 'I now get it.' Instead, they dig their fucking heels in and they get wronger and wronger —"
Publick slid into his Monarch voice, paraphrasing a scene from Radiant is the Blood as he bellowed abruptly, "They just dig in!"
"Yeah, I mean, Jesus Christ. We said it [in the movie], 'I dig in.'" Hammer said, reflecting, "Like [The Monarch]— that's how I handle life. I'm an idiot."
"The most autobiographical conversation you've ever written," Publick added with a smile. "I cracked up when I read it."
"Thank you," Hammer responded, "That [scene] was me explaining my life, going, 'I don't know why I do it. I don't know why I do it. I'm just a walking idiot. I'm glad we got to say that.'"
The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart will be released on July 21 on digital and July 25 on Blu-ray.
*This interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
