Viewers of the first season of Peacock’s Twisted Metal hadn’t really pegged Mike Mitchell’s Stu as a character who would be in it for the long haul. His overall sense of terror and ineptitude was a far cry from the killer instincts displayed by other figures roaming in the wasteland, but his quick thinking and inherent charm won over audiences, as well as Sweet Tooth, one of the franchise’s most iconic maniacs. All these episodes later and Stu is at a bit of a crossroads, as he’s faced with either participating in the Twisted Metal tournament with Sweet Tooth, who’s helped keep him alive all this time, or trying to reunite with Mike (Tahj Vaughans), his longtime friend from another life. Fans will find out Stu’s fate in the Season 2 finale of Twisted Metal, which hits Peacock on Thursday, August 28th.
Season 2 of the series is described, “Following the revelations in the Season 1 finale, John and Quiet find themselves entering the deadly Twisted Metal tournament, a sinister demolition derby hosted by a mysterious man known as Calypso. As they try to survive an onslaught of dangerous new foes and familiar faces alike, including the murderous clown Sweet Tooth, things get complicated for John when he reunites with his long-lost sister, the vigilante Dollface.”
ComicBook caught up with Mitchell to talk Season 2, pulling off stunts, and what restaurant he wishes had a Twisted Metal tie-in menu.
ComicBook: I do want to start with probably the most challenging question for you.
Mike Mitchell: Let me hear it.
I’m not going to hold back.
All right, bring it on.
What restaurant would make the best Twisted Metal tie-in menu?
That is such a good question. In the past, I’ve really loved what like Denny’s has done. They did a full Hobbit menu at one point. So I feel like … so I have a food podcast, Doughboys, and we’ve talked this entire month, we did “Twisted Monthal” to celebrate the show coming out, and we were trying to think of restaurants that could tie into it.
We were like: pretzels. We just kept thinking pretzels, of things that you could twist together, which is like, the first answer. But, look, Wetzel’s would be great for a Twisted Metal tie-in, but I would love to see more of that stuff just in general from all of TV and movies. We need to bring back a Chili’s Twisted Metal meal. I would be driving to the closest Chili’s, which is like 35 minutes away, and be in there for the Twisted Metal meal.
The sizzling fajitas and Twisted Metal, it feels like serving up fried ice cream on a sizzling skillet.
A Stu stew, as I’m almost turned into in this season? Something like that. I just want it to happen in general. There needs to be more of those crossovers. I don’t know what’s happened in the fast food world in the last couple of decades.
Yeah, if anyone is oblivious to what’s going on in fast food, it’s definitely going to be you.
Do you have a pitch for the best Twisted Metal meal?
I mean, the lowest hanging fruit of “pretzel.” Except you went Wetzel’s, I was thinking more Auntie Anne’s.
Auntie Anne’s, of course. I don’t know how I betrayed Auntie Anne’s like that, which is more in my neck of the woods where I grew up. But I feel like Little Caesar’s crazy bread, too. I think it would have to be twisted in some way, like a twisted crust or something like that.
We’ll come back. For Season 3, we’ll figure it out.
I just will do this pro bono, I should say, for any fast food corporation that’s willing to have a Twisted Metal crossover, I will do the work and create some campaign.
When you found out that you got to come back for a Season 2 of Twisted Metal, what was the thing that most excited you? Getting to play Stu again to continue his journey, just reuniting with the cast and crew? What was the thing that, when you found out you were renewed, you felt, “Yes, I can’t wait,”?
It’s such a fun character to play, but even more so than that, the show is such a blast to shoot. Yes, of course, the cast and crew, we changed locations, so there were some crew that we didn’t get to see again, but some people that we reunited with and all the cast and then new members. Some people I knew from the L.A. comedy world, but it’s just such a crazy show.
It’s so fun, whatever we’re going to do. We had a prom episode this year, and that was so fun to dress up in prom outfits, and Devon Sawa was there and all this different stuff that they always just go for it in the scripts. It’s always so, so fun to shoot.
I want to say that it’s also a challenge. [Sweet Tooth performer and professional wrestler Samoa] Joe and I get beat up every season. Well, so far just through the two seasons, but halfway through Season 2, we were like, “Yep, we’re back in it again,” you know what I mean? Covered in dirt every day.
I don’t know if I look forward to the “covered in dirt” aspect. It’s fun, but they’re putting dirt under your fingernails every day, and then you’re exhausted at the end of the day and you’re going out to a restaurant and you’re like, “Oh, I look disgusting. I look like vermin,” or whatever, in real life. Just the scenarios and what we’re shooting is the most fun I’ve ever had shooting anything, so I was so excited to come back and see what Stu would fumble his way into this season.
Well, just be lucky that you get to use the excuse of “I’m filming a TV show” for looking like garbage when you go out to a restaurant. I don’t have that excuse, buddy, but whatever.
I mean, I also will just look like garbage going out normally, but it’s even more … I don’t know if you’ve ever taken a trailer shower before, but it is not great. At the end of the day, we were getting Dawn Powerwash just sprayed on us to get all the stuff off of us. It’s truly wild. I’m covered in blood. I look at my selfies from filming and it’s me in underwear covered in blood, and you’re just sitting in your trailer all covered in blood in your underwear, looking at your phone, trying to disassociate.
You mentioned the prom episode — since you have the comedy background, when you show up to set for the day, are you more excited when you get to do more of the action-heavy stuff that’s maybe outside of your wheelhouse or are you more excited getting to lean into the comedic talents, since you’ve been in that world for so long?
Both are fun, obviously. I’m comfortable trying stuff to make myself look like a fool and trying to break Joe, who I can never break. But this year, there were so many funny comedians and people on set. Also Season 1, there was a ton of that, too. But now, every character we added this year, it’s Lisa Gilroy, Patty Guggenheim, Johnno Wilson,Tyler Johnston, all these super, super funny people. So it helps, you try to bring your game up when people that funny are around, too, obviously. Jon Daly is in an episode.
There’s so many funniest people in the world there, but I love doing stunt stuff. It’s so fun. It’s so much fun. Also, I have the benefit of it being — Stu is gonna be sloppy doing some of this stuff, but our stunt team is so incredible, and we work through all of that stuff. There’s even simple stuff that I’d never even thought — I fight with [Wilson’s] Dave, and so much of that is just, you gotta make it look good. We would go on our off days, we would go and practice and try to make things look good.
And shout out to Kevan Kase, who is my stuntman. He was great. He did a great job filling in as Stu. He would do the tough falls that they wouldn’t let me do, but I would try to do everything basically.
And that’s a great question — or that leads to my great question. What was your favorite stunt that you got to actually do? Between doubles, between CGI and VFX, what was the actual most exciting, thrilling thing that you got to participate in?
Look, it’s hard to top getting your foot licked by Johnno Wilson. So thank you, Johnno, that was almost untoppable.
No, I meant in filming the show.
I hope this isn’t a boring answer, but being in the pod cars and going — it was scary as hell, but zooming through, and you see it in the show, but I don’t know if anyone will ever feel it the way I felt it. It was both terrifying and I hated it and the most fun in the world. It’s the best stunt drivers that there are, so you feel comfortable, but all of that stuff is so, so fun and so crazy. I like little spurts of it.
Also, always just messing around with Joe. As a big guy, I’ve said this, but as a big guy, I don’t get to feel small and Joe tosses me around like a little child. So it warms my heart. No one can just lift me up. Joe just lifts me up and throws me against a truck. It’s wild.
Has he tried to enlist you into the ring? Should we expect you to be making your in-ring debut, you and Joe versus the Costco guys or whatever?
I would love taking on … the Rizzler is probably just my speed. I think that’s probably — I don’t know if I could go up against AJ and Big Justice. I think Big … honestly, I wouldn’t want to tackle Big Justice. I’m afraid of Big Justice. But no, Joe hasn’t mentioned it yet. Of course, that would be a dream come true, but I think it would have to be appropriate, in the way that I will come to ring and get kicked in the head and fall down … and then Joe has to save me, like in the show, basically, same thing.
Regardless of what Stu’s fate is in Season 2, what would you like to explore more of about Stu? If Peacock says, “Hey, we get to do a Stu spinoff,” what would you like to see happen?
Wow, the Better Call Saul for Stu. I like that it becomes a serious drama. I want it to become a serious drama with Stu. I think there’s a lot to … we know a little bit about Stu’s past, but there’s so much more to figure out. I want to dig a little bit deeper and see the type of person that he’s going to become in the apocalypse and how he’s going to be helpful to this group of survivors. For me, there’s a lot of stuff to. We scratched the surface with him and I think he’s a fun, silly character and he adds levity, but I would love to — not get to Better Call Saul levels, but scratch down, see what his history is, see what he is as a person.
I would love to explore stuff like that. The writing is so good this year and I was blown away by how much was packed into every episode and just the entire season. And I think having any screen time is an honor for me. I was so happy to be in the show and we’ll see what, in Season 3, what else we dig up.
I already see it now, the Better Call Saul black-and-white flashbacks of Stu working at a Wetzel’s Pretzels, talking about the “twist.”
He starts there and never leaves. He’s happily getting the employee discount or whatever. I just love working with the entire cast and crew, but I love working with Joe and I want to see how our relationship changes.
The Season 2 finale of Twisted Metal debuts on Peacock on August 28th.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.