The new Netflix Original Series Sweet Tooth is adapted from a comic book of the same name, which DC began publishing way back in 2009. That means despite the parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic, the story was not inspired or informed by the current events.
Jeff Lemire (The Nobody, Essex County Trilogy) is the comic scribe behind Sweet Tooth. When we had the chance to speak exclusively with him, he revealed what actually did and did not inspire the character arcs and story beats in the series.
Lemire made it clear that he only envisioned the series for the comic book medium, so he didn't have potential on-screen adaptation ideas influencing any of his work. He did, however, reveal that he named the main character Gus after his newborn at the time of the comic's creation. Jeff even mentioned that the character is now the same age as Gus and living in a real pandemic.
The full transcript of our interview with Jeff Lemire is included below. You can also hear us speak with him and writer Beth Schwartz, director Jim Mickle, and stars Christian Convery and Nonso Anozie by scrolling down to the podcast players at the bottom of the article.
Literary Joe: When you were initially writing the story over a decade ago, did you have in mind that it could be a feature to the point where you created certain things in the comic book that could translate well on screen? Or were you specifically focused on the comic book medium when you were initially telling the story?
Jeff Lemire: Definitely the latter. Even to this day, when I do comics, I don't think about an adaptation. I'm always trying to use the medium I'm working in to its fullest. So with comics, I'm really focused on the day-to-day of trying to make a great comic.
And we did things in the comic that aren't exactly easy to adapt or translate. So I think, for years, it was challenging for anyone to try to find a way into it adaptation-wise until Jim came along. But no, I didn't have film or TV or any of that stuff in my head at all.
Literary Joe: When you were initially creating the characters for the comic book, did you use any people in your real life to inspire their arcs?
Jeff Lemire: No, not really. I think that most of these characters came from more of a fictional place. There was not a lot of autobiography in it. I think the closest to that would be the fact that I named the character Gus after my own newborn at the time, Gus, which ironically, now he's the same age as Gus in the book, and we're in a pandemic so that's kind of weird.
But yeah, otherwise, I wasn't really drawing from real life too much with this one. I was really drawing from more of a tradition of these great post-apocalyptic stories, things like The Stand and Cormac McCarthy's The Road and all of the staples, but then trying to bring my own voice to them in my own story and put a twist on it.
Do you guys believe Sweet Tooth lived up to the comics, or did you prefer Lemire's original story? Be sure to sound off with your thoughts in the comments!
This episode features the incredible behind-the-scenes talents that have brought Netflix's latest DC Comics adaptation, Sweet Tooth, to life. We chat with Jim Mickle, who directed the upcoming series, Beth Schwartz, who wrote the Netflix show, and the creator and writer of the DC Comic series Sweet Tooth which the series of the same name is based upon. The team tells us about their research into animals, spending time with Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey at their personal petting zoo, and the process of adapting the pages to the screen.
What a wonderful and touching chat this is. Anyone who is interested in watching Netflix's upcoming DC Comics adaptation Sweet Tooth when it launches on June 4th will want to hear what the stars have to say. We speak with the main actor, 11-year old Christian Convery, about his starring role as the titular character in Sweet Tooth and the research he did on deer to immerse himself in the scenes.
Nonso Anozie, best known for his Game of Thrones portrayal of Xaro Xhoan Daxos and his roles in Ender's Game, Cinderella, and RocknRolla also took part, talking about doing his own stunts after six months of pandemic couch-surfing. We also dug into the charismatic relationship between the two actors' characters and what they do behind the scenes to help build that comfortable comradery on screen in the series.
Sweet Tooth is currently streaming on Netflix.