The opening scenes of Season 2 of Peacock’s Twisted Metal took everything fans knew about the series and flipped it on its head. Raven, who was shown to be controlling New San Francisco and was portrayed by Neve Campbell in Season 1, was confirmed to be only one “Raven” who was granted control of a community. The real Raven had a squad of other Ravens, all of whom controlled various territories. This new Raven, played by Patty Guggenheim, was teased to be even more cunning, ruthless, and unhinged than the Raven we saw in Season 1, with this Raven being so wild that she’s even entering the Twisted Metal tournament herself.
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 Guggenheim to talk taking on the role, pushing her performance limits, and more.
ComicBook: First and foremost, if you were transported to the apocalyptic wasteland of Twisted Metal, what kind of vehicle do you think you would want to drive?
Patty Guggenheim: A Hummer limo. With a hot tub in the back, even though it would probably be pretty hot out. Like on a night where you guys just needed to relax your muscles, go pop into that hot tub back there.
Are you nervous about having enough gas to get anywhere?
That is a good point. I think maybe I could rig some solar panels on top and try to get it electric. I think I’m gonna be a little bit crafty and shifty and 007 about it and make some solar panels that also help. You know what I’m talking about.
As a fan of Sweet Tooth, as a fan of the video game, as a fan of the first season of this TV show, what was it like for you to enter this world that not only you were personally a fan of, but you also knew had a larger, devoted fan following?
It was very exciting and thrilling. I was nervous because it was such a big world, but so cool. When I watched the first season, I was like, “This is a cool show.” So I really just felt honored to get to play in such a universe, a world that is gritty, but then funny and fun, playful, doesn’t take itself too seriously, has the music, has the gore, which is fun. They make it fun. I’m like, “This is badass.” So it was really surreal to get to pop in there.
Since you are hilarious in so many different projects that you’ve been involved in, when it comes to a series like this, where there are effects and there’s gore and there’s action scenes, do you feel like you get as much freedom to experiment or improvise with your fellow cast members as you do on other projects? Or do you think it’s a little bit more constrained, given all the moving parts?
Well, there were moments, few and far between, but there were moments where we could take some time with scenes, but there were so many of us for so much of this, so we really had to get what was there. And the writing is so fantastic. It feels already like it’s improv sometimes. When the writing is just so good, you’re like, “This already feels really like light and free and fun.”
We had to focus up on some of those days when there were so many people, and there’s so much that happens in every single episode. There’s not a ton of time for, “Well, let’s do a two-minute runner button here.” You gotta move the story really. As long as it moved story, I think improvising was totally full game on this.
You definitely occupy an interesting space in the series because you come in as Raven and audiences learn that you are the head Raven and there’s many other Ravens. To prepare for your role, did you look at all to Neve Campbell’s Raven for some inspiration? Did you look towards like the video game? Did you get complete creative control on what kind of Raven you brought to the series?
I did all of it, all of it. I think I just like to consume as much as I can and then see what comes out. I watched the first season and I loved Neve. I was like, “Okay, well, I can’t … we’re different humans and we’re different people.” And then after talking to [creator Michael Jonathan Smith] and knowing how this was going to be like the Raven from the game, which is different. If you’ve seen her in the source material, it comes from her story that plays out.
She’s this really deep, dark, moody … she hates her parents. She wants to kill them next. She just has this like really intense vibe to her. And then I just love that she shops at Hot Topic. She has her voodoo doll and her tarot cards, and I love all that stuff anyway. I just really dove into all of that source material. Got all my tarot out and just did everything. I have my little Raven obsidian crystal that I kept in my bra sometimes while I was shooting. I just got weird with it.
I was doing my research on Raven, I saw that somewhere described her as the “least insane inmate” at the Blackfield Asylum or whatever the hell place that she lived.
Yeah, but that’s not saying much because everyone there is — you know, the least insane, probably because she was the youngest and a girl who hadn’t had a chance to murder enough.
Since you get to fully lean into the villainous traits of Raven and we haven’t gotten to see you in outright villainous roles like this before, did you find that channeling those elements of intimidation were the bigger challenge or were some of the more physical elements of this role, as compared to some of your other roles, the biggest challenge?
This is gonna sound so silly, maybe, but I am so used to playing characters who are just there and are a nightmare because they just are an obnoxious, messy girl, and who people end up loving because they’re harmless.
The part was different in that I don’t like anybody and I don’t really care if anyone likes me. Just that, for me as a person, I think that’s probably pretty normal for most people. It’s like, you don’t wanna go out in the world being, “I don’t care if anyone likes me and I’m gonna do whatever I can to take you down.” That part was just different, that’s where the point of view is different and then you just have to get comfortable in that.
Obviously, Madisynn, no one can get enough of She-Hulk‘s Madisynn. I wondered what that experience is like for you, seeing the fan reaction, seeing Madisynn show up in a comic book, hearing that the Agatha All Along showrunner wanted Madisynn to show up, knowing how passionate fans are, but also that you yourself don’t get to have much control over whether we ever even get to see you return as Madisynn again. What is that experience like for you?
It’s a little bit like … I mean, it’s been so cool. It’s been really awesome. It did just feel like a portal opened, in a weird way, because that’s what happens on the show, but it’s opened this whole world of people and fans writing fan fiction and things and just seeing the creativity that comes from just one little weird character that comes through. It’s been so much fun and so cool. I love everyone’s ideas and passion about it. I don’t know, it blows me away.
Then you just have to leave it up to the gods, to the Thors, to the Marvel gods, to see if there’s a way for it to show back up that makes sense in the world.
Well, I know some people have taken roughly 17-year breaks from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So maybe you and I will be catching up in 2042.
I can’t wait. I’ll put it on my calendar.
New episodes of Twisted Metal debut on Peacock on Thursdays.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or Instagram.