‘Last Man on Earth’s’ Kristen Schaal: Last Woman Carol Is Phil’s “Savior”
Behind every great man, there is an equally great woman — and, it appears, behind the slovenly and dejectedLast Man on Earth, there is an equally neurotic and optimistic Last Woman.
During new Fox comedy Last Man on Earth’s series premiere Sunday, viewers were shocked by the show’s first big reveal — while Will Forte’s Phil Miller was still technically the last man on Earth, he was not alone.
After a futile search for fellow survivors of a mysterious deadly plague that wiped out civilization, Phil Miller had finally reached the end of his rope. Despondent, devoid of any hope and committed to ending it all, Phil was just about to crash his speeding truck into a rock formation when he saw it — smoke from a fire and proof that someone else was out there.
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Enter Flight of the Conchords’ Kristen Schaal, whose offbeat and rules-obsessed Carol Pilbasian immediately clashed with Phil’s more hedonistic tendencies. Not quite the company he had hoped or expected, Phil now finds himself (reluctantly) engaged and headed for marriage in hopes of finally getting some restoring the population.
So what’s next for the last two people on Earth? The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Schaal to talk keeping secrets, her “loveable” character, where these two opposites go from here.
So the big twist of the premiere was that Phil Miller was the last man but not actually the last person on Earth. What was it like trying to keep that secret for so long?
Oh, it was really right up my alley. That’s sort of how I would always prefer to do things. [Laughs] It was fun go to a job that nobody knew about and I like keeping the surprise. It was great.
What was the reaction like when people found out? Were people shocked?
Yeah, a few friends, were like, “Whoa! I didn’t know you were in this! I had no idea you were in this!” And they were very excited.
So far, we’ve primarily seen this post-virus world through the eyes of Phil. How will we begin to see Carol’s point of view shine through? Where is she coming from in all of this?
You’ll get to know and love Carol more as the series continues. She is incredibly loveable and has a real sweetness to her, like an authentic sweet spot, and, like she said in the second episode, she knows there’s a good person inside of Phil and she’s determined to bring out the best person he can be. There’s something so, I don’t know, just the integrity of that. On one hand, it could seem like kind of controlling, but on the other hand, she’s kind of his savior because he is at the end of his rope. So, it’s nice to see that mission. Whether or not it’s misguided, it’s coming from a good place.
Carol seems to be very strict with maintaining certain rules of the world. How much of that controlling nature is part of her actual personality? Is it inherent to who she is or is it more of just her way of coping with this insane world?
Oh yeah. I think she definitely comes from — it is part of her personality. She does like to follow the rules, but I think because of the circumstances she’s definitely taken it up to the extreme — like Will did with Phil on the other side of the spectrum — with the grammar and with the stop signs and making sure everything is in order in a completely order-less world. Something fascinating too is that now that she has found another person, there is one of the most extreme control, a real power play happening here because they’re given a completely fresh slate to start all over. Who gets to call the shots? It’s kind of awesome to see, just to see that delicate dance going back and forth. Who gets to call the shots in a world that is completely all your own again? Carol is really fighting for control and she definitely probably didn’t have that control in the old world and she’s going to make sure she gets it now.
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As Phil notes in the episode, such an obsession with rules that no longer matter seems almost silly. Were you ever afraid that the audience may be turned off by that part of the character?
I’m always worried about whether or not my, the character that I play — because they’re always so offbeat — there’s always a worry of like, “OK, are they, I hope, I hope they’re likeable,” and I think with the writing too that Will did, I just trusted that it was going to be great. Also, I always take on a character too, like Mel from Flight of the Conchords, that you look there and you’re like, “Ugh, this woman is like, up in their business, and she’s like this and that” and I’m just like, “I’m going to make people love her. I’m going to find a way to love her no matter what,” because even those characters that are quirky and offbeat, you know, there’s something about them too that’s really even more vulnerable and that ‘s really fun to play with.
At the end of the premiere, Carol proposes that the two of them get married, to which, out of almost sheer desperation, Phil agrees. Being so obsessed with rules, how will Carol reconcile the fact that they don’t have the necessary officiant or witnesses?
Part of this episode is how Carol organizes the wedding and I’m pretty sure Carol is a justice of the peace.
With Phil and Carol at such opposite ends of the spectrum in their reactions to their world, will we see those two ever find a middle ground?
Oh, absolutely. These two characters are going to engage in a very, entertaining dance, a very unusual dance, because it’s such a unique show, that I’m very excited about.
We saw small little flashes back into the life before the virus. Will we see more flashbacks in upcoming episodes? Will we perhaps see Carol before the virus?
We might [see a few flashbacks], but no, there won’t be any Carol flashbacks, unfortunately. Only in your dreams, your own personal dreams. (Laughs.)
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But we will learn more about the virus? Will the audience see what life was like living through this obviously horrific experience or will the show simply keep moving forward in this era after the virus?
There will be a couple conversations here and there as the series goes on and maybe tiny hints drop, but it won’t be the main focus of what’s happening.
Having ruled out flashbacks with Carol, will we perhaps see some dream or fantasies? Perhaps with some of the other cast additions who have been announced like January Jones, Mel Rodriguez or Cleopatra Coleman?
She might, but you never know. These new cast members, they could be Phil and Carol’s offspring for all we know, just years in the future.
Speaking of the future, the show takes place in the year 2021. Will we see any sort of references to pop culture or other things from the years between now and then? How much is that future different from what we know now (aside from, you know, a virus wiping out the entire population)?
That was a cool point I was chatting about with Will. I think what’s cool about the series taking place in 2021 after this virus is that whatever is happening in our culture now, kind of got frozen there because once the virus happened and it started destroying our entire world, there wasn’t an opportunity to make new culture. So, our cultural references are all from now. There’s no new inventions or pop stars or television shows or movies that have happened between now and the time you see Phil and Carol because people were just in the midst of a horrific battle for survival.
With such an uneasy partnership slowly but steadily developing between Carol and Phil, what’s the one thing viewers can expect between the two of them in this upcoming episode?
Let’s just say that Phil still stinks. It’s not a great [tease], but it’s true. (Laughs.)
Last Man on Earth airs Sundays at 9:30 p.m. on Fox. Like the premiere? Curious to see how this all plays out? Sound off in the comments below.
