A group of nobodies from the soon-to-be-closed Dave’s Video World are pulled into a world of insanity when a magical VHS tape sucks them into the greatest action movie ever made inDimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Up. This ragtag band of misfits must try to reunite with each other and adjust to the roles they play in this bombastic world. As they struggle to survive and find a way home, a larger plot at the heart of Never Stop Blowing Up begins to unravel, threatening everything they hold dear.
ThisJumanji-inspired concept was influenced by countless iconic action movies, characters, and tropes, including Marvel,Die Hard, James Bond,The Fast & The Furious, and more. The cast includedDimension 20intrepid hero Ally Beardsley, returning to the dome Ify Nwadiwe, Isabella Roland, Rekha Shanka, Alex Song-Xia, andDimension 20newcomer Jacob Wysocki.Game Master Brennan Lee Mulliganwas inspired by his wife, Rolland’s love for the action movie genre in creating this season and the world ofNever Stop Blowing Up.
15 Best Dimension 20 Seasons, Ranked
The best seasons of the actual play series Dimension 20 hop between genres and settings, giving the changing cast of comedy stars a great showcase.
Screen RantinterviewedDimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Upstars Isabella Roland and Alex Song-Xia. Rolland revealed the inspiration behind her characters,includingDie Hard, Paul Blart, andReal Housewives of Orange County, as well as why it was especially special to jump into the GM position. Song-Xia explained why Kingskin became more supportive of his henchmen and made a selfish character choice.
Alex Song-Xia & Isabella Rolan Describe The Dimension 20 Character Creation Process
“I knew right away that I wanted to be John McClane.”
Screen Rant: This season’s crazy. I genuinely don’t think I had any clue where it was going, and it was such a fun ride. You both were fantastic. Can you both talk to me a little bit about your character creation process, both with your Dave’s video world characters and your in the VHS characters and finding that dichotomy between the two?
Isabella Roland: Well, I knew right away that I wanted to be John McClane. Sometimes before seasons you have a bunch of different ideas. I did not. I was just sort of like, this is all I can really think of. And then when we chose Lake Elsinore, I knew it was going to be like a California suburb.
I think that Beardsley at one point made the joke of it being Lake Elsinore and Brennan just went, Okay, yes, that’s what it is. And so once we discovered that, I was like, it made me think of Suburban California. So I thought of the OG from the OC, Vicki Gunvalson from The Real Housewives of Orange County mixed with Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
Alex Song-Xia: I think Liv came before Kingskin for me, and Dave’s Video World kind of reminded me of the record store from Empire Records. So Liv is basically just Liv Tyler from Empire Records, but it’s Liv Skyler. And then Kingskin obviously is Kingpin. It was just like, what is a big villain? Thinking of just the silhouette of the action cast its fun to have a big guy.
Before we get into the craziness of theNever Stop Blowing Upworld, Izzy, I love the betrayal you play when Paula realizes that Liv has been stealing things from stores and immediately doesn’t know how to handle this situation. Can you talk about leaning into that drama before we even got into the insanity of the world inside the VHS?
Isabella Roland: Well, I just loved the connections that sort of were organically formed through us improvising and just thinking about how people relate to each other in a small town work environment.
This type of sort of middle-aged woman. It just felt like she would be really disappointed in a young woman for something as harmless as petty theft. I feel like Midwestern moms maybe show their love through disappointment. I don’t have a Midwestern mom, so I don’t know, but that just sort of feels like the vibe.
Isabella Roland: Okay. Cool.
Isabela Rolland Reflects On Jumping Into The GM Chair: “My Baby’s GMing Right Now”
Liv, Kingskin was unexpectedly sweet in how you played them. I think one of my favorite is just the arc from slowly crushing someone’s head in a door to just consistently giving Doug Meat pep talks. Can you talk about kind of that arc for you as a player of going from, I’m going to be playing this big evil villain to actually maybe he’s really supportive of his crew?
Alex Song-Xia: Well, one lens to look at it could be that I couldn’t commit to a character choice, but also I do think that it was very fun to play. I did genuinely want to crush those heads. And then I did feel bad after towards how I treated my henchmen. So I don’t know, just shooting from the hip, I guess.
Isabella Roland: I think Alex just couldn’t help but be sweet and caring for other people.
I love that we have a villain that feels bad about how they treat their henchmen. We need more of them. I thought that was great. What inspired the decision to try and crush G13’s head to save Usha? Because that was insane and amazing.
Alex Song-Xia: I thought it was a reasonable choice. I guess it was like, what skills do we have? How crazy can this game get? Will Brennan really let us die? And it seemed like he was willing to maybe let that happen, so.
Izzy, you got to jump behind the GM screen for a minute. Can you talk about that experience and kind of the feeling that overtakes you as you watch the clock count down and you try to do everything you want to within those 60 seconds?
Isabella Roland: I don’t remember anything except for being very excited and just sort of being on autopilot and just being like, just say anything. And being like, whoa, cool, My baby’s GMing right now. I think I said everything right. I think I made all the right decisions. I have no recollection. I have no idea what I say.
Dimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Up Makes Full Use Of Brennan Lee Mulligan’s Imagination
“Brennan was just really good at weaving everyone’s character arcs together.”
I think you did great. What for both of you was kind of the most surprising part of your character’s arcs from when you first conceived of the character to where they ended up by the end of the season?
Alex Song-Xia: I think I didn’t expect Kingskin’s name to be Steven Skin. That was a big surprise to me. I did name him after my brother, whose name is Steven. I love the reveal that he had also been really on the straight and narrow, similar to Liv’s current path before turning to a life of crime.
Isabella Roland: Brennan was just really good at weaving everyone’s character arcs together. It was shocking. I can never believe when he’s able to do something like that. I didn’t know anything about Cosmo Chase or anything like that, so having the reflection projection of the lives was very just like, Ah, dang, you did it again. How cool.
I loved it. I love when you threw Brennan off by guessing-
Alex Song-Xia: That was crazy.
Isabella Roland: That was crazy.
Alex, you made such a cool choice near the end where everyone’s kind of giving the vials of the super-enhanced steroids to Wendell, but you made the choice that it made more sense for your character not to do that, to not go along with everyone, and to kind of finally make the selfish choice. What inspired that for you in the moment and why you knew that was the right choice for your character versus kind of just going along with this almost tropey climactic moment?
Alex Song-Xia: I think Liv as a character probably had a lot of resentment of doing things for other people, not even that people had asked her to do necessarily. Yeah, it felt maybe like a breaking point for her to do this very selfish choice. It was kind of scary even as a player of like, ooh, this is unlikable, and I don’t know what will happen after or how to come back from it. But yeah, it felt like a safe place to make that choice, knowing that my fellow players would know what to do after. But I did feel very selfish and bad making that choice.
Isabella Roland Praises Fellow Dimension 20 Players
“It’s really wonderful to be surrounded by the best improvisers and actors in the world.”
I thought it was great. I think you have to make selfish choices sometimes if that fit your character. Izzy, one of the dynamics I loved in this was Paula and Russell, especially as Paula kind of starts to call out Russell’s behavior and makes him really think about how he doesn’t make connections. Can you talk about playing off Beardsley in those moments of both very great comedy but also really insightful character moments?
Isabella Roland: I think it has to do with Beardsley is just a great improviser and role player. So you can see that they’re performing that arc. Then I was just trying to support it by calling it out, and Brennan was laying the groundwork for it. It’s really wonderful to be surrounded by the best improvisers and actors in the world. There’s so much support and you feel like if you’re able to sort of give someone an assist in those moments, it just feels great.
Did you each have kind of a favorite dynamic that you got to play with your characters and another character? Because I think everyone had such great moments with every other character.
Alex Song-Xia: I think it was so fun to discover the dynamic of each pairing, because I think maybe going into it, there was one that I was like, it’ll be most fun to play off of this. And then it just constantly changed. Also I feel like we found so much just improvising in different pairs.
Isabella Roland: I liked the sort of arc that Paula and Usha took where Paula was like, I’m not like you to being like, you’re my girl. We’re the old b-tches. That was fun. I feel like everyone became very raw. All of the characters became very raw with each other by the end.
Yeah, this had way more emotional beats than I think I expected. It was so great and watching Brennan just go completely off the walls is always very, very fun as you guys try and figure out what’s going on. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today.Never Stop Blowingup is amazing. Izzy, congratulations on the Kickstarter. I’m very excited for the movie [D(e)ad].
Isabella Roland: Thank you, Caitlin.
I loved being in the crowd for Izzy’s Big Family Reunion. That was so much fun.
Isabella Roland: Wow. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Alex has a really awesome film coming out too [Really Good Driver] that started screening places.
About Dimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Up
Dimension 20’s Never Stop Blowing Up features six players, each playing a dual role in the story. In “real life,” they are employees of a strip mall, until they’re sucked into a magic VHS tape that transforms them into high-octane action heroes. The characters must figure out how to navigate the movie to get home.
Check out our otherDimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Upinterviews:
All 10 episodes ofDimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Upare available on Dropout now.
Dimension 20
Cast
Produced under the Dropout TV banner/service, Dimension 20 is a Dungeons & Dragons-based television show that brings together a group of players for comedic adventures in the classic tabletop game. Campaigns last several seasons and switch back and forth between them, with many cast members returning to take on new roles, all hosted by creator Brennan Lee Mulligan as the show’s Dungeon Master.
