Earlier this year, we revealed that Amazon Studios was reviving the cult classic seriesThe Tickwith a new reboot. Unfortunately, original starPatrick Warburtondidn’t return as the title character, but he did come back to produce this new incarnation, which stars British comedian Peter Serafinowicz. Today, fans can finally watch the full pilot episode on Amazon Studios, but before you watch the full episode, we have two clips, and more details from creator Ben Edlund.
Entertainment Weeklydebuted these new clips, the first of which features this hero offering a dose of justice to a group of gun-toting criminals, literally walking right through their gunfire. The second clip gives us a new glimpse of Arthur (Griffin Newman), who is clearly reluctant to be The Tick’s “sidekick.” Despite his initial hesitation, it seems he’ll likely come around, since creator Ben Edlund teased in his interview with EW that Arthur is essentially the “main character” of this season.
“He’s [Arthur] the main character. He’s the one who has the arc. He’s the one who gives us the shoes you wear to pass through this universe. In the previous live-action, there really wasn’t the time taken to build what is usually a compelling main character story. So I mean The Tick is no less an important character than Arthur - he’s titular - but it was really important to take this human character seriously and give us a chance to really bond with him and be with him emotionally and then have him encounter the strangest entity in his universe.”
“His voice is The Tick’s voice - it’s what I hear in my head now. And to kind of have that take place when combating the very, very large shadow that is cast by Patrick Warburton and his way of characterizing this creature, that is a tremendous relief to feel like there is a new authoritative take on this character in live-action.”
The Tick is set in a world where superheroes have been real for decades, an underdog accountant with zero powers comes to realize his city is owned by a global super villain long-thought dead. As he struggles to uncover this conspiracy, he falls in league with a strange blue superhero. The supporting cast includesJackie Earle Haley, Valorie Curry, Yara Martinez and Brendan Hines. The Tick is executive produced byBen Edlund, Barry Josephson and Barry Sonnenfeld, directed by Wally Pfister and written by Edlund. Here’s what Edlund had to say about finding the right balance of action and comedy.
“It’s a tremendous balancing act because it had to have stakes, it had to have blood, it had to have certain things that are part of the living language of superheroes in the popular culture today…It has a responsibility if it wants to play in that pool to have life and death, to have a relationship to violence that none of the other iterations did. And so how do you have The Tick slip in a pool of blood and have it be funny? You have to find a very specific tone.”
Along with these first two clips, fans can watch the fullpilot episodeof The Tick for free, starting today on Amazon. All Amazon customers are invited to stream and review the pilots to help choose the next Amazon Original Series that are then available to Prime members. The pilots will be available via the Amazon Video app for TVs, connected devices including Fire TV, and mobile devices, or online at amazonvideo.com. Take a look at these new clips, before checking out the full pilot.
