Interview: Ryan Gillis and Sunil Hall explore weird science in STUGO animated series

It might still be winter but get an early start with wild summer adventures in the new Disney animated series, StuGo. Inspired by the childhood surrounded by the rich wildlife and vibrant energy of southern Florida of creator and executive producer Ryan Gillis, StuGo follows six middle schoolers who get tricked into attending a fake academic summer camp by a mad scientist. What started as three months of learning transforms into an adventure of a lifetime on a tropical island filled with mind-reading manatees, giant fighting fungi, and fashion-forward mutants. Ahead of the series premiere this Saturday, The Beat had the pleasure of chatting with Gillis as well as co-executive producer Sunil Hall. We touched upon some of the inspiration for the show, the casting process and much more!

Taimur Dar: I’m not ashamed to admit I was wracking my brain for some time trying to figure out the meaning of the show’s title StuGo until I realized it’s short for Student Government. Sometimes coming up with the title of a show is just as hard if not harder than the actual show itself. How did you lock onto the title StuGo?

Ryan Gillis: That’s a great question because I am awful at titling things. When it was in development it was called something else for a long time. As the idea evolved, I was just throwing things through pure research. I was Googling and I found StuGo. It was catchy and felt with the themes of the show. That one stuck. There was always a chance it could change in development, but this one sailed through the eye of the needle.   

Taimur Dar: Something I enjoy observing in animation is the episodic storytelling approach versus linear or serialized storytelling. And even mixing them together. For instance, The Mighty Ones which Sunil worked on is mostly episodic but towards the later seasons took on a bigger ongoing plotline. StuGo appears to lean more episodic. Is that the case or is there a larger overarching storyline?  

Sunil Hall: In general, episodic is our focus. We want each episode to stand on its own without someone having seen previous episodes for anything to make sense. Same way like The Mighty Ones, as the season goes on these stories and characters take on some lore and you start to build depth in this world. Parts of that stuff naturally come back in later stories. I think you’ll see towards the end of the season there will be a little more threads that we continue or references to other episodes. But it’s designed to stand episodically and that’s our main focus of the show.

Ryan Gillis: Sunil is really good at finding rewards for people that have watched in sequence like joke that can come back and if you know the character it hits harder. But yeah, we like to keep each episode standalone generally.  

Taimur Dar: At New York Comic Con, I had the immense pleasure of interviewing Chris Prynoski and Ben Kalina from Titmouse Studios. Without a doubt it’s one of the best animation studios. Prynoski said they don’t have a house style but rather a house sensibility. So it’s no surprise then that StuGo fits with their sensibilities. What has been the experience working with Titmouse?   

Ryan Gillis: I worked at Titmouse as an animator fifteen years ago. So when the show moved production over to that studio, it felt right. I think the studio is known for an irreverent style and a willingness to buck house trends. They felt like a good home for StuGo. 

Sunil Hall: It’s a fun studio culture. Chris and everyone who’s been there are just big fans of comics and cartoons and have been supportive of everything we do. It’s been a good home for us.

Taimur Dar: StuGo has such a fantastic voice cast. Something I find interesting in a person like James Gunn, sometimes he creates roles with specific actors in mind. Other times, he has a general idea so there’s a casting process involved. For StuGo, did you have any of the actors in mind from the get-go or was there a casting process with unexpected surprises?    

Ryan Gillis: Big casting process. Lot of unexpected surprises. I didn’t have anyone specific in mind. When we made the characters it was kind of like building categories of people I’ve known and characters I’ve seen and make these amalgamations so they’d feel real. Disney’s casting department did a big call and got lots of recordings. We’d listen to them and put them together and see how they sounded together. Then we ended up with this cast that I’m thrilled about.   

Sunil Hall: Sometimes as we’re writing episodes, we’ll bring on guest characters who will show up for one episode. Oftentimes then we’ll think of someone we know as an archetype for that character.  

Taimur Dar: Back in early 2024, I had the immense pleasure of hosting a panel on voice directing and Kristi Reed was incredibly kind to be on it. She’s one of the best in the business. After watching StuGo, I can definitely see it has a lot of her own sensibilities I’ve observed from other shows she’s directed. How did you end up hiring Kristi and what has been the experience having her as a voice director?  

Sunil Hall: Like you said, she’s one of the best out there. I had worked with her briefly on a pilot. We knew who she was and she was available. Again, it’s someone who syncs with the vibe of the show. We work really well with her. She’s very efficient.

Ryan Gillis: Again, working with Sunil has been so great because he’s been down this road before. He’s been able to predict a lot of twists and turns that I wouldn’t be able to work on my own. When we interviewed Kristi and she said the timing worked out, he sent me a message on the side, “Lock it down! Get her!”

Taimur Dar: Ryan, you’ve mentioned how the show was influenced by your childhood growing up in Florida. But I’d love to hear what were some of the animation inspirations?  

Ryan Gillis: Ray Harryhausen for sure. Jonny Quest. There’s a lot of these old adventure serials that we were mining and trying to pick the parts that inspired us when we were young and update it to make it feel like it was in our voice. Old adventure serials for sure. 

Taimur Dar: I remember hearing a comedian explain how trying to be funny will ultimately end in failure. While watching StuGo, some of my favorite gags that made me laugh out loud were fairly simple but unexpected like the Dr. Lullah character playing tic tac toe with a monster. What’s your approach to comedy and what makes you laugh?  

Ryan Gillis: I think my favorite jokes are where we learn more about the character. Right there in that moment, it’s the first time we’re seeing her work but then you realize she has more of a playful relationship. The joke is a surprise but really the joke is learning more about Dr. Lullah. I’m mostly trying to make Sunil and the other storyboard people laugh.    

Sunil Hall: We’re just cracking each other up in the writers’ room. Whatever gets the biggest reaction we go with that.

Ryan Gillis: Production is long. It’s very nice to have other people you trust. When you’re in the middle of it and there are so many choices to make you’re like, “What’s the thing that really made us laugh back then?” You can hold onto these little north stars.

Taimur Dar: Finally, are there any particular episodes you’re excited for viewers to see or ones you’re proud of?      

Sunil Hall: I don’t want to pick any one particular “baby” to say is my favorite. [Laughs]. Especially for me as the series goes on with this particular batch, it really took on a laugh of its own. Everyone started gelling as a team. These characters become living creatures on their own separate from what we started with. I’m a big fan of the evolution of the series.

Ryan Gillis: Stole the answer right out of my mouth! The thing started to take momentum and people started to take ownership. It started to take on an interesting pace by the end.

StuGo premieres on Disney Channel on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 8:00pm ET/PT with two episodes, followed by new episodes weekly on Sundays at 9:00am ET/PT