Tokyo drifters
Here’s a post with BTS info about Episode 407, so listen to it before you launch in!
Season Two of AGENT STOKER took us around the world, as we stipulated that a different Night Brigade Director oversaw each continent, and we were going to meet them all. Not only that — where we could, we’d even cast someone from that continent!
Alas, not every dream comes true. We did manage to cast our Berlin friend Torben Liebrecht as the Director for Europe. And we were hoping to cast someone from India to be the director for Asia. That actor wasn’t available, though, so we reached out instead to Maya Eshet — a wonderful actress whose credits include the space-horror series NIGHTFLYERS, and who was based in Tel Aviv.
It did give us some great bragging rights to be able to say that our Season Two recording sessions spanned the globe from Honolulu in the west to Tel Aviv in the East. We had to do some fancy footwork to be able to record Maya from so many time zones away, yet we pulled it off with one of our more memorable episodes if we do say so ourselves.
Yet, yet, we couldn’t help thinking among ourselves that it felt a little weird to have Asia represented by Tel Aviv, which is on the Mediterranean Sea and feels more like Europe even though it’s technically Asia. We made a mental note to look for a chance to set a story more deeply in Asia in the future, and maybe even establish a new Director for that continent in a different city.
Just a couple episodes, we did make it to Asia with our episode set on the Trans-Siberian Railway. But in Episode 407, we go even further east — and with the help of new cast member Francois Chau (known to many from LOST, but also our second cast member who’s a veteran of THE EXPANSE), we were able to create Agent Urashima, a Pacific Rim Director for the Night Brigade at long last.
On another note, this episode was directed by a legend who’s been with AGENT STOKER from the beginning — the redoubtable Oz Scott, who’s staged everything for the first theatre production of FOR COLORED GIRLS … to modern classics like THE CHEETAH GIRLS. We love working with Oz because he keeps challenging us to work harder. And in this episode, he asked for even a little more mystery than we’d already set up. So we introduced a Raspy Man (played by Dom Magwili) who tried to impersonate Agent Urashima. Who IS this raspy man? We didn’t tell you in this episode, but we promise an answer in Season Five …
… which, yes, is our first announcement that there WILL be a Season Five of AGENT STOKER! Stick with us! Anything is possible!