Exclusive Interview with Brains’ Chris Cherry

d9d82c0c-1d3b-4c65-a4fd-55f26f8dbc90As September nears, the web series Brains is getting ready to debut its second season. Following a group of college students who are now living in a post-apocalyptic world but trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy, the series mixes comedy, drama, and horror to create something that keeps your eyes glued to the screen and wanting more.

Chris Cherry, who portrays Billy Jack Lippincott, and is the associate producer and script supervisor for Brains provided a few teases for season 2 and his thoughts on what life in a zombie apocalypse would be like for him.

Is there anything that you can tease regarding season 2 and what fans can expect?

Well, a lot of what happens is a secret and I can’t go into details, but I can say that my character, Billy Jack, is in a relationship this season, with a character that we’ve met before. Is it Damian? Is it someone else? Is it Damian? I can’t tell you!

Will there be any more big surprises in season 2 like there were in season 1 with not only Damian but also Professor Heather Sherman being zombies?

Can you ruin a surprise if you say that there are surprises? Who knows? But one thing that I love a lot about Brains is that, while it does throw us these fun narrative curveballs, it doesn’t ONLY do that. The thing about surprises is that they’re only surprising once and if you only rely on surprises for your plotting, it makes your show less rewatchable. Whereas Brains has such great characters and jokes that I can watch it over and over and still enjoy it.

Will season 2 continue to explore how sometimes zombies aren’t so zombie-like and actually seem more human?

Again, I don’t want to give too much away, but it does deal with that. What I think it does more is delve deeper into all of the characters’ lives, for both the dead and undead. Season two is a lot more of a character drama than season one was, and I think the most definitive statement that it makes about its zombie characters comes from how they just get to be characters with problems and goals.

How would you say Brains differs from other shows and movies in the zombie genre?

It definitely has a different tone than most other zombie media. Generally, zombie stories are bleak stories, where the most upbeat ending you can hope for is “not everybody is dead”. Whereas Brains’ tone is decidedly and defiantly upbeat. Which isn’t to say that it can’t be serious. But even when it’s at its most serious, it’s never bleak. A lot of that comes from the setting, which isn’t so much post-apocalypse as post-post-apocalypse. You can tell different kinds of stories in the world of Brains, because survival is no longer the only goal. In fact, Brains is kind of about dealing with the fact that you’re suddenly allowed to have goals again, when you never thought you would.

If you could have one other person with you during an apocalypse, either dead or alive, who would it be?

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Because of all the people, I feel like would be good at killing zombies, he’s probably the one that I’d want to hang out with the most. And since he’s so large and I’m Kevin Hart-sized, our adventures would have a wide, four-quadrant appeal that would ensure our survival.

What would you miss most if there were a zombie apocalypse?

The internet. I can live alone in a cave surviving on army rations if I have to, but I need to waste time on the internet.

Do you think that you’d be able to survive a zombie apocalypse?

Hell no. (laughs). I can barely survive right now, and this is a world where I can tap my phone screen a few times and a pizza comes to my door. I don’t even need the upper body strength required to press a physical button. Which is good, because I do not have it. A good rule of thumb for me is, if a koala couldn’t survive a scenario, I couldn’t either.

Our website is called Talk Nerdy With Us, so what do you nerd out about?

I mean, I can nerd out about so many things, but honestly, the thing I nerd out the most about is Doctor Who. Don’t bring up Doctor Who with me unless you’re prepared to talk for two hours at minimum, because there’s always more to talk about. I just love sci-fi in general and time-travel in particular, and I like the idea of a TV show that’s constantly changing and can be anything.

 

Catch up with season 1 of Brains before season 2 is released in September!  And don’t forget to visit their website to learn more about the web series. Watch a preview of season 2 below.

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