In 2033, humans are able to upload their minds into virtual afterlifes. Upload is an Amazon Prime Original that follows Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell) as he dies and is uploaded into Horizon’s Virtual Afterlife. Nora(Andy Allo) is one of the architects that builds this world and takes care of their “uploads”
Hilarity ensues as Nathan must adjust to his new life while also figuring out what actually happened to him.
This sci-fi comedy was created by Greg Daniels, mastermind behind shows like King of the Hill, The Office and Parks and Rec. Season 1 is now streaming on Amazon Prime and Season 2 is in the works.
First off the show explores a ton of different genres, which one did each of you gravitate to more and which one opened you up to the universe that Greg created?
Robbie Amell: Andy. You want to take that?
Andy Allo: Yeah, that's a great question. I think for me it was a combination of scifi and the romantic comedy aspect.I grew up watching Star Trek and so I always loved like futuristic technology and this show is just filled with that and I'm also a sucker for any kind of romantic comedy and like romance, like boy meets, girl, the meet cute. So, just the whole drama and so that was really fun. And for Nora, her own dilemma you know this guy is technically dead. And she's living in those ads and he also has a girlfriend and it adds so many layers. So yeah, those two things are really exciting for me.
Robbie Amell: My big thing that I really wanted to work with, Greg, I was saying, I'm up, I'm up at my sister's husband's cottage visiting her family and the gardeners just showed up with their big, huge riding mowers and air blowers. And it was, they actually showed up 20 minutes ago while I was putting my son to sleep. And they were right outside his window. And I'm like, this is, and he loves, he loves big things like power tools and stuff. I was like, this is just a nightmare. He's standing in his crib, looking out. To get back to the question I was really excited to work with Greg. I don't know how loud this is on your end to work with Greg. I was really excited to work on a half hour comedy on a streaming network. From the second I read the script, I thought that it was weird in the best kind of way. And I think that, hith how many outlets and how many shows there are out there, you really need to do something different to stand out. And I think that, you know, the way that, that, upload really kind of crosses so many genres and has so much heart, but it's still funny and goofy at times, and also, you know, poses some interesting questions about the world we live in, in the future. We might have, I just, it was kind of a perfect storm for me, What I was looking to work on.
Greg, I know the series has been in the works for many years but there's some crazy things that exist in this world that have come to fruition, for example you interacting with family members, from behind a screen we're going through this whole pandemic thing and for health reasons, that's the only way we can interact with our loved ones. What major themes did you notice, when filming this came to fruition before it aired?
Greg Daniels: We have a running tally now of stuff that we had on the show before it happened in real life. I think one of the things people are noticing is people in masks in the subway. That was more of a costume designer's thought on pollution. We did a lot of research on the near future and we tried to always have devices on the show. There existed a prototype of even if it wasn't available. Just this week there was all these things in the news about 3D printing of meat. And In the pilot which we shot in January 2018 Nora's Dad printed steaks for him and Nora and their fat cartridges are malfunctioning so their steak is really dry. So that's just one of a bunch of things that keeps popping up. That's kind of the intention of the show if you are gonna write about 10 15 years things are gonna keep happening on top of when they air.
Of the many things that you guys get to experience in this new afterlife, what is one thing you would love to experience in real life? And one thing that you could do without?
Robbie Amell: I like the memory parlor a lot. I think that would be a cool thing to happen in real life. I could do without everything being life being a "freemium" game even though it kind of is already, but like, you know, I don't want that to be my afterlife. Yeah. I guess I would want, like, I would want it to be all inclusive.
Andy Allo: I can do that, the like lack of fresh stuff, Even though having the ability to print food when you were lazy Or like you just wanted a meal that you didn't want to spend hours making. I love that. But also having the option of, okay, if I did want to cook something then then I would have all the vegetables and everything ready there. You know, it'd be interesting if it was combined, like you could 3D print your vegetables and then still cook, but it still has the nutritional value of it fresh. That would be amazing and just as a bonus, it would be cool to be able to walk on water.
That scene was hilarious. I ran out so far yet. One of my favorite scenes of the show. Now Andy, I know you're a very talented singer. Have you and Greg ever talked about maybe next season exploring a musical episode?
Greg Daniels: Us doing a duet, you're saying.
A duet or a musical episode, maybe throw up Robbie in there too.
Andy Allo: Yes, yes. For a musical with Robbie. That would be great.
Greg Daniels: That's the one, that's the one genre we haven't worked into the show yet.
Robbie Amell: That's so great that I get an episode off next season.
You're going to be in there. You're going to be in there.
Andy Allo: I think we can program you to sing I'm in Lakeview. I'm pretty sure.
Robbie Amell: I think that would be funny. I can lip sync with the best of them. So Andy, find one of your friends that has an incredible voice. They can be, it could be my update.
Nathan and Nora's relationship is complicated to say the least in your opinion, would Nathan and Nora meet and work outside of Lake view?
Andy Allo: Ooh, Hey, you're, you're coming at us I love it. Well, one thing works honestly, I, I don't know. I think if Nathan was who he became and like the work he did on himself, then yes. I think if they met outside, but right from day one from jump, I feel like they were just so different and they have such different backgrounds unless, unless they were just willing to grow with each other. But that takes a lot if you're just meeting somebody and right off the bat, you're so different. Yeah. So I think their circumstances really supported them. Just really getting to know each other and giving each other the chance to grow and change.
Greg Daniels: That's one of the nice things about romantic comedies though. I think that's a message in romantic comedies is that sometimes you should look outside the pool you're In and fond of a romantic comedy is seeing the weird, you know, story reasons why two people get thrown together you know, acknowledge what's good about each other. Okay.
Greg when creating the show there, there's a ton of like very interesting characters going into next season. Is there any one character in particular that you want to expand their story?
Greg Daniels: We're going to see a lot more about Ivan. This is a little tease if you know Ivan, Ivan as the night angel who is eating the Cheetos in the pilot. So he gets more screen time than you might have guessed from season one. But yeah, there's, I don't know. We're, there's some new people coming into there's new Lud characters and and then pretty much just exploring more of the people who are in season one.
Robbie for your character, Nathan, he is stuck with Ingrid now living among the two gigs. How can, how can Nathan help the less fortunate? And do you think that Ingrid can play a part in achieving that?
Robbie Amell: Oh, well, I mean, Nathan's kind of back at square one with Ingrid, but you know, I think there's so many, or there's so much left to figure out at the end of season one with the relationship between Nathan and Nora and Nathan and Ingrid. I'm just excited. You know, I love my scenes with both Andy and Allegra, I think that, you know, the dynamic between the characters is so fun and for different reasons. So I'm just, I'm excited for what Greg and the writers have put together with Nathan and Ingrid being back to, you know, living in the same place. I just, I think that the, the, the comedy side of things is really fun there. And I actually think that the dramatic side of things, or at least the a little bit more real side of things with, with Nathan, Nora can be explored with her being in the, you know having left at the end of the first season and the danger she's in and the relationship kind of being left on a bit of a, a weird note and a cliffhanger So I don't know, I'm excited for both as far as the two gigs that's above my pay grade Greg and the writers are, are so, are so smart and so funny, and they're very collaborative. They always ask what, what myself and Andy and the rest of the cast are, are thinking and how we're feeling and what we're, you know what we like and what feels real. So we had a little meeting with them before, before everything went down with the pandemic. And I'm just really excited to see what they've got, you know, they're, they're really impressive storytellers. And you know, I just feel very lucky to get, to have fun with what they put together.
Now for you two. Do you guys feel very connected to your characters? Are you, are you more like these characters? Are they somewhat different and makes it fun for you to kind of experiment with, with what'd you get to do with these characters?
Robbie Amell: I mean, when I first read the pilot, one of the main things I loved about it was I thought that Nathan and I had a very similar voice and a very similar sense of humor. And you know, sometimes you read things and you're like, Oh yeah, I could do that. Or like, I think I could do that. And then other times you read things and you're like, that's not me. And then rarely, you know, I get to read something and I'm like, I can do this. I've, you know, I know this character, I love this character. This is, you know, it has a lot of me in it. So the fun thing is I get to bring a lot of myself to the character and similar to the relationships, like, you know, Andy and I get to try and make each other laugh and you know, just have a good time and build our relationship onscreen and offscreen kind of at the same time. Which just kind of worked out nice for us timing wise, but we're very lucky that the whole cast get along so well, and we are friends and we get to bring that kind of, that side of our relationships, to the characters which I think, you know, kind of shows through.
Now, Greg, you've been sitting on this story and this, this, this idea for a while now, were there any major changes that have happened from the concept to the final product?
Greg Daniels: Yeah, sure. Well the concept came about when they were introducing CD players. That's how long ago it was. So there's been an awful lot. Like there was, there were no, you know, Facebook and YouTube and stuff when the concept came about . But I've been working on this version since about 2014 and one of the things that informed it a lot was, you know, the rise of these huge tech companies and playing with my kids, these games like club penguin or roadblocks, you know, these games where there's in app purchases and you're roaming around this world and, you know, just the rise of virtual reality. And so every time that, that something new has been developed I've been kind of thinking, well, how does that fit with the central theme of what would, what would it'd be like if man could make their own afterlife through technology, you know, and it had all of the same problems that human society has in terms of greed and income inequality and whatever. And I think the reason I've always been attracted To the, to the central, you know, concept at the, at the core of the show is that it's just very rich to, to think about, you know, and it, and number one, I think it's likely that eventually we will have this kind of exact technology, but even if we don't, you know, it's similar to a lot of the stuff that we get, we get all these wonderful technological marvels, but not everybody gets to have them. And they're pretty much used to making somebody money. So, you know, it's just like an interesting concept at the heart of it.
Now that Ingrid is in there with you Robbie and Nora you get to play, you get to play God a little bit with these, with these customers. Do you think that she'll take it upon herself to also manage Ingrid's avatar?
Andy Allo: Oh, Oh no.
Greg Daniels: I mean, I'll give you a hint. I'll give you a little, little, little treat for next year. Alicia is the one who's managing Ingrid's avatar.
Andy Allo: Yeah. I like that. Yeah.
So much fun for you guys. Like a lot of fun things that you guys introduced in the show were like rating each other dating apps or, or situations is there like, do you guys have like a little power hour or a little meeting and you guys just shoot out ideas as far as what type of things you want incorporate into the show and kind of like, see what it looks like and how it would work out.
Greg Daniels: We're on an email chain and they always send me good ideas on the email chain, which is fun. And everybody chimes in the other cast. That's fun. Yeah.
Anything that like, you're not going to put on the show, but you guys have thrown out there. Any fun, fun ideas?
Greg Daniels: Well, the chain is right now is all about these food printers. That's a, that's got everybody going nuts. I don't know. Like I just saw something about chicken McNuggets being printed. So we have this fictional company called Oscar Meyer Intel. It was a merger, you know, it says the future of meat. So I dunno, we also just started getting a little bit of merchandise out there. I'm wearing a upload V now and get it over with t-shirt. So we're trying to get Oscar Meyer, Intel stuff out. That's what should be fun? Yeah.
Since the creation of this show, I mean, the idea of afterlife has been revisited by a lot of people. When you guys started the show, did you guys start thinking about the possibility of this becoming true. And what is your stance on afterlife?
Greg Daniels: Well, this isn't really afterlife, right? This is sci fi. This is a technological actual, there's nothing supernatural in the show. You know, it's all like, this is what would happen if your brain was recorded and could be, you know, hosted in a game engine or something. So I actually, I actually don't think we've really touched on anything too religious in here, but although there are characters in the show who disagree with the whole notion of it from a, from a philosophical standpoint and that's part of the debates, but you know, we haven't really shown any real versions of afterlife on the show. I don't know. What do you, does it make you guys think about anything differently?
Andy Allo :Thanks. Thanks for tossing that to me, Rob, I appreciate that. I mean, I feel like we've had conversations of if a digital afterlife existed, if that's something we would jump on. But what I like about the show is that as Greg said, it, it does show you the different perspectives and the different beliefs that people have, which I think is so great that you're able to watch the show and still feel like, Oh, okay, I get to see how this affects everybody. And, you know, for Nora there's this she's torn because, you know, she lost her mom and, and her dad wants to join her in heaven and feels really strongly believes really strongly net. Whereas, and Nora is like, I love that. I love that. Like I, that's amazing, but I want you here with me and you get to be here with me in this digital afterlife, digital heaven per se, you know? And I think that's, that's the, the battle is and the choice of like, okay, going on, on, on faith, on this, you know, on heaven or on something that's here and tangible. And I love the last scene of the pilot where Nora is talking to Nathan and, and is like, you know, God created man. And if man created this afterlife, then, you know, isn't that amazing, like, because God created us and gave us the tools to do this which I think, you know, is a valid argument. And, and the show kind of gives you those different perspectives. It's a show that is very much a starter and makes you rethink and think about how you viewed and seen things.
Well, thank you guys so much for your time and I hope you guys have a great weekend and I can't wait for season two and I can't wait for the panel tomorrow, so it's, it's going to be fun. Cool. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.