1 of 5 | Dan Stevens, seen at the New York Premiere of “Zero Day” in February, voices Korvo in “Solar Opposites.” File Photo by Derek French/UPI | License Photo
Solar Opposites voice actors Dan Stevens and Sean Giambrone say they are sad Season 6, premiering Monday on Hulu, is the show’s final season. The pair are pleased, however, with the conclusion the series reaches in its 10th episode.
Stevens voices Korvo Opposite, the head of an alien household living on Earth in an unspecified American town. The Opposites came to the planet to investigate if it would be a good place for repopulating the Shlorpian species.
Giambrone and Mary Mack play Korvo’s replicants Yumyulack and Jesse, respectively. In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, the voice actors shared their mixed emotions about the series ending. Stevens, 43, said it’s “bittersweet” to stop playing Korvo.
“I am very attached to him,” Stevens said. “It’s a lovely conclusion to a really, really fun show.”
Giambrone also said goodbye to a long-running live-action series when The Goldbergs ended after its 10th season in 2023. Based on that experience, Giambrone, 26, expects watching episodes of Solar Opposites to bring back memories.
“There’s the sadness but it is cool to be able to go back and watch some of the seasons and be like man, that was a lot of fun doing that,” Giambrone said. “Each scene will jog back a memory.”
Mack still finds herself brainstorming ideas for a Season 7 that will never happen. Each episode begins with Korvo ranting about a frustrating thing about humanity, but implicitly Americans. So Mack, 50, thought of a good joke for the British Stevens.
“I think that Dan should go off on not being able to get double cream cheese here,” she said. “He should go off on everything U.S. related. These are just dreams now.”
Stevens estimated that he recorded “hundreds” of rants, but only 10 are used per season.
“There’s definitely some wilder ones that don’t make the cut,” Stevens said.
The Opposites use their alien technology to circumvent human conflicts. These often reference other science fiction movies, from Edge of Tomorrow (aka Live. Die. Repeat.) to The Lake House.
In one Season 6 episode, Yumyulack and Jesse imitate the aliens from Mars Attacks to abduct their teachers.
“We’re just hitting all the alien stops,” Giambrone said. “I think they did have to really make sure that we sounded the same doing it.”
Mack was pleased to see the 1996 Tim Burton film get some love.
“I thought the original Mars Attacks movie was way better than anybody ever gave it credit for,” she said. “I thought it was fantastic.”
Sci-fi is not the only target of Solar Opposites. Korvo also finds himself in a Baby’s Day Out situation on a construction project. Stevens said he’s a fan of the 1994 family film that concludes with an infant crawling across steel girders.
“I love Baby’s Day Out,” Stevens said. “We actually watched it in a movie club I’m part of the other day. They don’t make ’em like that anymore.”
The Opposites sometimes encounter other alien life forms on Earth. In one Season 6 episode, Korvo and his husband, Terry (Thomas Middleditch), encounter a plant that increases their sex drive to the point of distraction.
Stevens confirmed he and his co-star recorded their own sexual sounds in that episode, though both were in separate recording booths at different times.
“All the noises were made,” Stevens said. “I did some things in that episode that I’ve never done anywhere, professionally or otherwise.”
The final season also concludes other Solar Opposites subplots, including the shrunken wall people. Trailers have shown that the wall people confront Yumyulack, which pleased Giambrone.
“I’m just pumped that I got to interact with the wall people,” Giambrone said.
A third subplot that pays off will not be spoiled.
“There’s three shows in one basically,” Stevens said. “You get very good value for your money with this show.”
In Britain, Stevens said he had experience performing radio plays and recording audiobooks. Breaking through in Hollywood with The Guest and Beauty and the Beast led to more acting work in animation.
“Transitioning the voicework into this direction has been a journey since I’ve lived in the States for sure,” Stevens said. “The pace of that kind of comedy is obviously very different to reading a classic novel.”
Giambrone believes The Goldbergs put him on the radar for casting as the “son” in an alien family.
“My sensitivities from that carried over to this,” Giambrone said. “So then it was more shocking when I was doing the swearing and killing and all that.”
Though she has been doing voice work since 2013, Mack has never played the same character for as long as the six seasons she played Jesse. One of her other roles does include Kiff’s classmate Renée on the Disney series Kiff.
That show is created by Nic Smal and Lucy Heavens, who both grew up in Cape Town.
“That show is run by South Africans so they don’t think I have an accent,” Mack said.
The publicity tour for Solar Opposites has also spoiled Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale for Stevens. He said he was not aware that franchise’s conclusion included clips of his character, the late Matthew Crawley, until every journalist asked him about it.
“I haven’t seen it yet,” Stevens said. “That’s a spoiler. I keep being told that I appear but I haven’t seen it yet so I’m looking forward to it.”
