Summary
The season 1 finale of Apple TV+‘sTime Banditshas just been released, leaving fans begging for more. While there are no announced plans for season 2, the Apple TV+ series doesend on a cliffhanger. The series follows eleven-year-old Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) who joins a group of time-traveling thieves on a comedic and perilous adventure.
Time Banditsbrings viewers along for a wild and chaotic ride as they navigate through various historical periods. Adapted from the cult classic film of the same name byJemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, who also star, the series blends humor with high-stakes drama. All ten episodes ofTime Banditsseason 1 are now streaming on Apple TV+.
Time Bandits Show Cast & Character Guide
Time Bandits follows an 11-year-old boy named Kevin who joins forces with a group of time-traveling thieves who round out the show’s main cast.
Screen Rantspoke with Tadhg Murphy (Alto) and Roger Jean Nsengiyumva (Widget) aboutTime Banditsseason 1. They discuss how emotional it was reading and filming the finale episode, as well as how fun it was working closely with Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement. The two also reveal whattime periodwas their favorite to explore this season.
Reading The Time Bandits Season 1 Finale Was “Emotional”
“We won’t be doing this in three weeks. This is the last one.”
Screen Rant: What was it like reading the final episode of Time Bandits season 1?
Tadhg Murphy: It was emotional. We were filming in order, and so during the last episode we had that feeling of, we’re bonded as a family by then, and we know we’re going to have to say goodbye soon, and you don’t want to say goodbye. You don’t want to say goodbye to each other. You don’t want to say goodbye to the show. You don’t want to say goodbye to New Zealand. You don’t want to say goodbye.
Roger said this in another previous interview really well, because it’s not goodbye, it’s hello. And that is the truth of what’s happened with the show, and, more importantly, what happened with the chemistry we have together as performers. I hope it comes across on the screen. I certainly feel like it does. We are so tight, we can finish each other’s sentences. It’s nice. We absolutely, like me and Roger, do little things for each other. We don’t even have to speak. So, I found it really emotional filming the final episode.
Roger Jean Nsengiyumva: Me and Tadhg had children a week apart. I had my little daughter three weeks ago, coming up on four weeks now. And we FaceTimed. They both did a little [sound] or whatever. Yeah, it was very emotional. There’s this beautiful thing that you do when you have a really warm group. Obviously, before the episodes, we’ll do a table read, and, you read one, and you’re like, “I hope I don’t look like an absolute idiot.” And then you do two, and you go, “I hope I can do something that can make some of the others laugh.” And then you do three, and you’re very comfortable, and then all the way up to 10, and then you’re at 10, and you’re like, “We won’t be doing this in three weeks. This is the last one.” So yeah, that was a very emotional reading. Episode ten was very emotional.
Tadhg Murphy: I think we might have had a huge hug after that one.
Roger & Tadhg Cannot Pick A Favorite Time Bandits Time Period
“I can’t put one in front of the other, but I’ve just named two.”
Screen Rant: Was there a favorite time period for you to visit and play in?
Roger Jean Nsengiyumva: We’ve really struggled with this one. We really struggled. I’ve pretty consistently said that I don’t want to rank one on top of the other, but the one that keeps popping up is the medieval time and Manaa Musa. Medieval Times, specifically because of the ridiculousness of the ensemble, the villagers. You had a snail juggler, and then he comes back, and it’s like his hands have been all twisted because of the torture. There was a moment in that where me and Tadhg just caught each other’s gaze, and I’m pretty sure they couldn’t shoot. The stuff that they shot with us was unusable because we were just laughing. It was the end of the day and I’m pretty sure people were like, “Guys, come on.”
And then Mansa, Musa, just because it was gorgeous. The sand. There was a lot of sand in the studio on that day. Kal-El, kept on doing this thing where he’d walk up to me and he’d have all the sand in his hand, and he’d go, “Guess what I’ve got in my hand?”, and I go, “I don’t know,” and he’d go, “A sandwich.” It’s the 20th time I’ve heard that already, good job. It was just so much fun. I say I can’t put one in front of the other, but I’ve just named two.
Tadhg Murphy: Exactly the same as Roger, so I’ve been saying different ones for every interview. So for this interview, I’m gonna go for the 90s. And the reason I’m going for the 90s is that we’re in the record shop, right? And I was messing around Roger, and at some point, I can’t even remember what I said, but I made Roger make the following noise.
Roger Jean Nsengiyumva: I’m gonna give you a contract. That’s what you said.
Tadhg Murphy: Yeah, and the laugh. I think we laughed solidly for the rest of the day. But that was also a glorious era, because I lived in the 90s, obviously.
Roger Jean Nsengiyumva: Lisa couldn’t breathe after you said that. Someone was singing and she had a really great voice, I think it was the cashier in the record store, and we were like, “Wow, that is an incredible voice.” And Ty just went, “I’m going to offer you a record contract.”
Tadhg Murphy: I’m doing it as Alto, too. That arrogance and confidence that he believes. You know what I mean? But I love the 90s, because that is a nostalgic time for me. I was in my late teens into my 20s. You really would feel the environments when you were in them, and to be in one that you actually know was really fun. That’s a great episode, because there’s so much going on in that episode in terms of story and in terms of where the characters are at and their needs and their wants.
And Kal-El is, oh my gosh. Kal-El and Karen in that episode, they just keep at each other. Actually, one of the great joys of the show are all the little micro relationships that are occurring. And there’s a really good one between Widget and Saffron. They don’t like each other because he doesn’t like kids. When you hear those two accents going at each other.
Time Bandits EPs Taika Waititi & Jemaine Clement Love To Improvise
Screen Rant: What is it like working withTaika Waititi and Jemaine Clement?
Roger Jean Nsengiyumva: There was one improv when Taika said, “Okay, do your line again, Roger, but do it in a haiku.” And I was like, “Well, it was like…”, “No, too many words.” But there was so much improv. I loved it when they would just grab the microphone and say, “Try it like this,” or we do a take again, and then they’d be like… what was one of my we had? Oh, we were all remembering Susan and I had an improv where I went, it didn’t make it into the show, obviously, where I said, “Oh, the thing I most miss about Susan was that she had Athlete’s Foot on her hands, and it never used to let her get her down.”
And I just remember Jemaine, just like in tears, and Taika was like, “Did you say Athlete’s Foot on her hands?” “Use the children as shields!” that made it in. That was improv. I remember Kiera [Thompson] wrote me a card, and she drew a shield on it, and then she drew a little round face with an afro, and then she did a speech bubble that said use the children as shields. She really liked that line. It’s a wild one.
Tadhg Murphy: It was phenomenal [working with Taika and Jemaine]. Early on, I think it’s episode two, we’re sitting around a campfire, and the bandits are introduced around the campfire. So we say who we are and what we’re about in a nutshell, right? So it’s like a little teaser for Kevin and the audience, and that day I must have done, I think I did 20 different directed improvs from both Taika and Jemaine. I think maybe I did two of my own. But they would just throw stuff at me, like, “Pretend you’re a matchstick man and you’re about to go on fire.” And I just have to take that and go with it. The one that they put in was the backpacker.
Those moments were great because they were firing ideas at you, then you’re improvising around their ideas, but you’re also discovering who your character is and how you tick in a superficial way. You know what I mean? I found that just to be absolutely amazing. And as time went on, we went on, we went through the episodes, and as time will continue to go on, you start to realize that there is a heart and soul underneath these characters that is causing them to operate the way they’re operating, because they do have hopes and dreams and they can really identify with what Kevin is going through, and that is so glorious. You can feel in each character that they’ve had similar universal moments that the human beings have had.
About Time Bandits Season 1
Eleven-year-old Kevin joins a group of time-traveling thieves on a comedic and perilous adventure. As they navigate through various historical periods, they embark on a mission to save Kevin’s parents and ultimately the world, blending humor with high-stakes drama in this adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s cult classic.
Check out our other Time Bandits interviews:
Time Banditsseason 1 is streaming in its entirety on Apple TV+.
Time Bandits
Cast
Eleven-year-old Kevin joins a group of time-traveling thieves on a comedic and perilous adventure. As they navigate through various historical periods, they embark on a mission to save Kevin’s parents and ultimately the world, blending humor with high-stakes drama in this adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s cult classic.
