“It’s actually our bloodiest episode ever,” series creator Tim Miller tells EW.
A lone, cloaked swordsman treks across an apocalyptic wasteland.
Eat, Puck tells this nameless traveler, or be eaten.
A swordsman (voiced by Aleks Le) traverses hostile terrain in the ‘Pac-Man’ episode of ‘Secret Level’.Amazon MGM Studios
The twist is that were talking aboutPac-Man, the classic, typically kid-friendly arcade game.
That shocking realization, however, is very much the point.
And they’re like, Oh my God, I can’t wait.
Puck (Emily Swallow) from the ‘Pac-Man’ episode of ‘Secret Level’.Amazon MGM Studios
The best concepts were then written out in prose before screenwriters took over to craft teleplays.
Pac-Man, in particular, proved challenging.
We got some typical [pitches] youd expect of aPac-Manthing, Wilson explains.
A swordsman (Aleks Le) faces down a monstrous mutant in ‘Secret Level’s ‘Pac-Man’ episode.Amazon MGM Studios
We went through this round a couple of times and never found an idea.
He has no memory of who he is or how he got there.
Words and syllables land in an odd way, and the diction and clarity is slightly off."
A swordsman (Aleks Le) and Puck (Emily Swallow) traverse a harsh jungle in ‘Secret Level’.Amazon MGM Studios
Whether Puck can actually be trusted or if there’s more to this reality is a different matter.
“I was immediately drawn in and fascinated by how much it disturbed me!”
Swallow says separately over email.
All Swallow knew from reading the script was that Puck is “feminine, kind.”
In speaking with casting director Ivy Isenberg, the actress learned that this kindness isn’t entirely altruistic.
What is this swordsman’s purpose?
Eat, Puck replies.
That would include eating Ghosts, the primePac-Manadversaries now reimagined as carnivorous mutant monsters.
Eventually, me and Dave were like, we just gotta do the John Melius version of this.
So didBlack Mirrorand evenMandy, the 2018 psychedelic horror-fantasy starring Nicolas Cage.
We got a lot into how mythic the center ofPac-Manis, Petty explains.
Which sounds deceptively haunting, Petty continues.
Honestly, it was acknowledging thatPac-Manis theBeowulfof narrative gaming.
Its theErtext at the center of characters being in video games and trying to take that seriously.
If this is a world entirely driven by hideous appetite, how does that work?
Traces of classic G-ratedPac-Manlinger in the DNA of this dystopian tale.
That one came from Amazons animation development executive, Mitchell Foster.
With much reluctance, I was like, Fine, dude.
Considering the reaction from the geek crowd, he concedes, Sh–, he was right.
“We were careful not to be entirely self-referential the whole time,” Petty notes.
“We were always trying to be like, What would existing in this world actually be like?
“I think we may get some negative [responses],” Miller says.
“I think negative things can happen sometimes when expectations don’t meet reality,” Wilson chimes in.
Tim and I had a big debate.
I was like, we should start the whole series with ‘Pac-Man.’
Secret Levelpremieres on Prime Video this Dec. 10.
