The final season of Upload drops today and series creator Greg Daniels is sharing which of the other characters he’s developed would upload themselves into a digital afterlife.
Upload, which has run for 4 seasons on Prime Video, follows a set of characters who elect to transfer their consciousness to a fully digital “heaven.” You can check out an exclusive clip from the final set of episodes above.
Speaking with IGN Daniels, who also wrote for several seasons of The Simpsons, co-created both King of the Hill and Parks and Recreation, and developed The Office for American television, says some other small-screen favorites would jump at the chance to undergo the upload process.
Michael Scott
“I think he wouldn’t understand it properly and he would undergo it without needing to,” Daniels says. “He would’ve screwed that up somehow and signed the wrong thing and be expecting a new hairdo or something.”
Homer Simpson
“I wrote an episode where (Homer) goes back in time (Season 6’s Treehouse of Horror V). He keeps screwing things up and having to go back in time to try and fix them. And I feel like that (version of) Homer would probably upload, I just don’t know what world he’d upload into. It would probably be something where he saved a little money and it was sponsored by Duff Beer. And he’d do nothing but eat and drink himself to death.”
Hank and Peggy Hill
“Peggy would think that she knew better and probably come up with some other plan. I could see her assuming she could operate on herself and not need that. I don’t think Hank would be a fan. I think that’s a typical ‘BWAH!’ moment of obviously ‘no.’”
Dwight Schrute
“He would totally upload. It would be a way to extend his domination into the future. I think he would probably try to copy himself illegally so that he could have his own army.”
Leslie Knope
“I think she would (upload) because she’s optimistic and she would do it for the best reasons. She would want to just be around for her loved ones and to protect the world.”
Upload creator Greg Daniels says the point of the show is that love transcends death.
As Upload wraps up Daniels, who says he’s “incredibly mistrustful” of AI, emphasizes that the point of the entire show is bridging the technological with the personal.
“At its core (Upload) is a romantic story, Daniels says. “The romance that you’re really following is achievable because of this science. Love’s ability to transcend death is probably the core theme. The ending is very romantic. There’s (also) an interesting arc about artificial intelligence, which has just gotten more and more and more timely.”
Greg Daniels addresses Scranton Strangler and Upload fan theories.
Dating back to his time on The Simpsons, Daniels has dealt with a barrage of fan theories and figuring out if they could (or should) be integrated into future episodes. He says that while some theories may have factored into certain narrative arcs, he considers others to be downright ridiculous.
“With Upload we have to completely finish the entire season in advance so it can be dubbed,” says Daniels. “So you’re flying a little blind. When I worked on The Simpsons, (there would be) ListServs. When (episodes are) dropping weekly and you have a very engaged fan community, you can literally be able to make an alteration in (a future) episode sometimes. But that doesn’t really apply to Upload.
“I am not on social media the same way I (am) distrustful of artificial intelligence. I was very distrustful of Facebook in the beginning. I decided not to get on it. Obviously it’s very big and pervasive and now I won’t even do Instagram or WhatsApp because it’s all the same company, so I’m very isolated.”
Perhaps no bigger fan theory has followed Daniels as intensely, though as, the Office subplot about the Scranton Strangler, a mysterious serial killer for whose trial sad-sack HR rep Toby Flenderson eventually served on a jury. Daniels says that, despite rabid fan speculation (including theories that Toby himself was the culprit), the storyline was always intended to be a humorous subplot. When asked to definitively state who the Scranton Strangler was, Daniels laughs.
“I don’t endorse this being such an important thing for fans,” Daniels says. “I really think this was a side joke. I heard (the Toby) theory. I think that’s really doing dirt to poor Toby. That’s something that Michael (Scott) put out there on a fan board under a different name.”
The 4th and final season of Upload is now streaming on Prime Video.
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