‘The Office’ Creator Greg Daniels Talks Season 2 of Hit Amazon Ensemble Comedy ‘Upload’ (Exclusive)

Upload creator Greg Daniels is bringing Season 2 of his hit sci-fi comedy to Amazon on Friday, and he recently shared some behind-the-scenes insight into making the ensemble series. Speaking exclusively to PopCulture.com ahead of the show’s premiere, Daniels — who also developed the American version of — opened up about crafting a show with so many different actors of varying personalities. “I think it’s great when you can find some sort of a topic that allows for an ensemble cast,” he said. “Because you don’t get bored.”

He shared with the show’s diverse casting, such an element helps bring the story to life. “You get a lot of different storylines going, a lot of different people, different backgrounds, different things that are concerning them and you can follow them,” he said. “From a maker of TV, it’s also nice to have one main plot and then another plot going, and cut back and forth between them. So you don’t have to worry about, how am I going to get to the next scene? It doesn’t matter, I’ll cut away to the other plot and then I’ll cut back and we’ll be in the next scene. So that’s a fun thing.”

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The showrunner then went on to explain how the show doesn’t “necessarily have to lean on the same storylines for every value” present in the series. “The show has a mysterious component and a humorous part, and romantic and sometimes it’s okay for some characters to be completely romantic and then to cut to a hilarious thing from another character, and cut back. And you can maintain the tone that way without having to put a joke in the romantic moment,” he said. “So, yeah, I like an ensemble show.”

Speaking about how a story as complex as the one Upload tells gets from start to finish, Daniels said,”You don’t necessarily end up where you thought you were going to end up, but you usually have the same proportions that you’re going for. Because there’s the part where you write it and then the scripts are like, ‘All right, there’s this much mystery, this much romance, this much comedy.’ And then you shoot it and then you get the first cut, and it’s all out of whack. And then you go into the editing room and you get it back to where you want it. But you’re using different things, things that they found on set, or things the director added, or the actors and stuff.”

Calling it a “whole process,” Daniels adds a lot of work goes into every aspect for the show to resonate. “There’s so much visual effects. Because we’re either in the future, which means completely different advertising and cars going by, and jokes about what life’s like in the future. Or we’re in this very designed digital life extension that’s supported by a big tech company, and there are all sorts of everything that has to be decided what’s happening there too. You can’t just point the camera out the window.” 

Season 2 of premieres all seven episodes on Friday, March 11 on Prime Video. For more on Upload and all your streaming news, stick to PopCulture.com for the latest in entertainment, celebrity, and trending news.