Common Side Effectsis a little bit of everything.Adult Swim’snewest show features drama, romance, humor, spy-thriller level tension, high-speed vehicle chases, and even a dance number or two. The show, which tells the story of ethnobotanist Marshall discovering a mushroom able to cure any ailment, is the brainchild of co-creators Joseph Bennett and Steven Hely. When creatingCommon Side Effects' unique tone, story, and characters, the duo drew on a wide range of inspiration ranging from TV shows and films to the exploits of real-life scientists and even some fascinating mushroom facts.
A Fascination With Mushrooms Started It All
In a conversation with Game Rant, Hely and Bennett revealed several of the inspirations behindCommon Side Effects,its core cast of characters, and the cure-allmushroomat the heart of the story. Hely revealed that the original idea for the story came from the pair’s fascination with mushrooms, which only grew when they began the research process and began speaking with scientists in earnest.
“Mushrooms are interesting and strange. Some of them can kill you. Some of them make you feel funny. Some of them are delicious. They’re weird. There’s so much we don’t know about them. The more you learn about them, the weirder and stranger they get - the way they spread, the way they reproduce, the way they are cultivated, the way people use them.”
For the main character Marshall, the world-traveled botanist who discovered the miraculous mushroom, the duo drew on the exploits and adventures of real-life mycologists, anthropologists, and ethnobotanists, particularlyPaul Stamets, Terence McKenna, and Wade Davis. Marshall’s look, particularly his trademark wide-brimmed hat, is a deliberate tribute to Stamets and his own fondness for headgear. The result is a complex character who is dedicated to pursuing and protecting his miraculous mushroom, but also a bizarre figure who struggles to trust others and fit into society.
Film, Television, And Real World Inspiration For Common Side Effects
In addition, Hely explained, the duo deliberately wantedCommon Side Effectsto “bend genre,” including elements of comedy, thriller, drama, and more. To that end, they drew inspiration from the films of the Coen Brothers, a duo responsible for works includingThe Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou, Fargo,and many more. Bennett specifically citedBurn After Reading,as he liked how that film effortlessly blended drama and comedy. The result is a show that maintains the humor Adult Swim is known for while also tackling serious topics like healthcare, living with illness, toxic relationships, and more.
Regarding his previous animated work,Scavengers' Reign,Joseph Bennett felt that it did not serve as a direct inspiration, as the two pieces were so tonally different, but thatCommon Side Effectsdid end up sharing a number of its themes. Both shows deal “with the natural world, humans, their relationship with nature, and some people kind of resisting and some people kind of like leaning into it.” Ultimately, although they are two very different projects, there is definitely some shared DNA betweenCommon Side EffectsandScavengers' Reign.
Finally, both Hely and Bennett acknowledged that their real-life experiences shaped the show, including living through theCOVID-19 pandemicand dealing with health insurance-related struggles. It was the latter that drew them to cast “Big Pharma” as the show’s villain, in the form of pharmaceutical companies that want to prevent the mushroom Marshall discovered from being released to the public. “Joe and I, like everybody else in the world, have encountered the massive insurance [and] health care system that we all have to deal with,” Hely explained. “It’s incredibly frustrating and annoying - how do we get to the humanity of that?”
