James Gunn started Creature Commandos before he was head of DC Studios

Of all the recent Hollywood studio attempts to roll out adaptational interconnected universes, the new DC Studios slate is the only one to kick off with an animated series. Specifically, they’re starting with Creature Commandos, based on a DC Comics team so obscure they make the Doom Patrol look like A-listers, coming to Max this week.

“It was a passion project for him,” says Creature Commandos showrunner Dean Lorey (Harley Quinn, Powerless), speaking to Polygon over video. “He loved the characters and he just wanted to see it happen. And then somewhere in there he and Peter Safran became the co-heads of DC. So it was a fairly easy pickup for him [laughs].”

And once Gunn did become a co-head of DC, Lorey says, not much changed for Creature Commandos. “The great thing about James is he didn’t have to really go through a development process on it because… he was the process. So the scripts remained the same; there was very, very little rewriting of them once we got them. And I think they’re the better for it. They come from a very clear and specific point of view, and I think that only helps projects.”

Gunn already had four episodes banked when Lorey came on to Creature Commandos, and finished the final three within a few months. “[James] had a real passion for these characters,” Lorey says, “and he really wanted to tell their stories.” That plays out in the structure of the series, in which each episode both moves the plot forward and functions as a character study, concentrating on one member of the team at a time.

But the interconnected universe of it all did have one major effect on the show: Casting. Lorey confirmed to Polygon that the actors behind Creature Commandos — including Frank Grillo, David Harbour, Alan Tudyk, and Indira Varma — were chosen with the possibility of live action in mind.

“The hope is that if there is a live-action movie, that these people will play those roles. So it was a little bit different in terms of casting, because normally you don’t really think about that. In Harley Quinn, we didn’t really consider that when we were casting people, but we did seriously consider it for this show.”

The Creature Commandos, in live action, coming to a theater near you?

“Look,” Lorey quipped, “I’d love nothing more. I’ll buy a ticket.”

Creature Commandos premieres on Dec. 5 on Max with two episodes.