Among Us TV show stars Randall Park and Kimiko Glenn spoke with News’s Tyler Treese about the new Paramount+ TV show. The duo discussed their characters, the joys of voice acting, and working with creator Owen Dennis. All episodes of the show are currently streaming.
“Among Us follows a group of eccentric, monochromatic Crewmates of a ship transporting junk across the galaxy who must root out an Impostor in their midst before they fall victim to its villainous designs. The series is based on the globally popular multiplayer social deception game of the same name,” says the official synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Randall, your character Red, he’s the captain, but he’s completely clueless. Yet he has this air of confidence to him, which is always a great combination, at least for comedy, maybe not running a ship. What really attracted you to this role of Red?
Randall Park: I think the character is something I do love to play. Those kinds of characters who have an air of bravado but actually have no idea what the hell they’re doing. It’s just a fun thing to play.
On top of that, being a part of a show based on a game that was so popular and loved, and seeing how they adapted that game into something so fleshed out and funny, but also scary, just seeing the craft in that was something that was very exciting to be a part of.
Tyler Treese: Kimiko, your character Cyan is a gemologist, not a geologist, but a gemologist. It’s such a funny person to have on this show. What do you like most about Cyan’s role in the show and how she interacts with the other characters?
Kimiko Glenn: I love that she’s seemingly useless. She’s just sort of there to say stuff that, in theory, is so sweet and earnest, but also unhelpful. I love that aspect about her.
Tyler Treese: Yeah, she’s there for vibes. Everybody needs a vibe person, you know?
Kimiko Glenn: Yeah, totally. I’m the hype woman. I’m the “let’s all get along” person.
Randall, you mentioned that you’re excited to be a part of this adaptation because the video game was such a hit. Had you played much Among Us? I know during the pandemic it was gigantic.
Randall Park: Yeah, that’s what I learned. No, I hadn’t played it, and I didn’t even know what it was. But I also live in a hole, so I don’t know much about anything. So I had to look it up, and when I looked it up, it was thrilling to see how much people love the game.
Hopefully, they’ll get the voice actors together, and you guys can do a couple rounds of Among Us. I think that would be a fun little story.
Randall Park: We’ve talked about that. We would love that.
Tyler Treese: Kimiko, you’ve done a ton of voice work. What’s been most rewarding about getting to lovingly expand all these huge franchises like Pokémon, Marvel, Star Wars, and now Among Us?
Kimiko Glenn: It’s been kind of the greatest joy of my life.
There’s so much fun and play involved in doing animation, and no egos involved. Everyone is just so sweet. That is my favorite part about this industry. Everyone just wants to have a good time, make the best product, and be surprised. They want you to bring yourself to the table and pitch new, fun ideas, see what sticks, and what works.
I think that is just the best energy to enter a creative zone with, which sometimes you don’t always get on camera or in a theatrical setting. I think there are more limitations there. It’s just so nice to feel like you can play.
Randall, my last question. Owen Dennis is the real creative force behind this show. What stood out about getting to work with him? Because he is such a brilliant animated mind.
Randall Park: I think it is his vision. The vision of how he saw the show in relation to the source material, which is the game. The game is great and fun, but you don’t really know who these characters are. So he had a lot of envisioning to do, a lot of fleshing out to do, and a lot of bringing it to life.
I was just so impressed by his ability to do that and to do it in a way that made for a really fun show where, if you weren’t familiar with the game, you could still really enjoy the show. I felt like that was important. So yeah, just his vision and his talent were so impressive to me.
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