Interview: Tom Ellis & Sasheer Zamata Talk Voicing Cat Deities in Netflix’s Exploding Kittens

ComingSoon Senior Movie News Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Exploding Kittens’ Tom Ellis and Sasheer Zamata about the new Netflix series. Based on the tabletop card game of the same name, the series was created by Matthew Inman and Shane Kosakowski. The voice cast of Exploding Kittens also includes Ally Maki, Mark Proksch, Suzy Nakamura, and Kenny Yates.

“Earth sucks, so God (Tom Ellis) gets fired and sent to Earth to reconnect with humanity. The catch? He’s trapped in the body of a chubby house cat. As part of Godcat’s rehabilitation, he moves in with a dysfunctional family and tries to solve their problems, but ends up spending a lot of time chasing laser pointers,” the synopsis reads. “And to top it off, Godcat’s next-door neighbor, who is also a cat, turns out to be none other than his nemesis, the Antichrist. The result is the ultimate fight between good versus evil…except, Godcat is distracted by a pigeon he saw in the yard and Devilcat (Zamata) is busy napping on someone’s laptop.”

Exploding Kittens is now streaming on Netflix.

Brandon: I just wanted to say, before I ask you anything, I super enjoyed the show, congratulations to both of you. It was so much fun to watch, I had an absolute blast. Question for you, Tom. You’ve played Lucifer for a long time and then you get this call from Netflix saying ‘We want you to voice God, but he’s in cat form.’ Is that totally different or daunting? Or can you just snap right into it?

Tom Ellis: The irony wasn’t lost that they wanted me to play God after playing the Devil. It’s a completely different project. Whilst it had those celestial similarities, there were a lot of different elements to it. Honestly, I got the scripts in, and I was like, ‘This is bonkers, but it’s also incredibly funny. I think I know what I’d like to do with this.’ It was a natural progression, in a weird sort of way.

Oh, sure. Sasheer, you’re voicing the Devil, in cat form again, but kind of a different Devil than we’ve really seen before. Much more humorous, she kind of has a heart to her. What was that like?

Sasheer Zamata: It’s fun to play. I’m the daughter of Satan, and I’m not doing a great job of taking the reigns. It’s fun to play a less assured type of Devil. She’s trying to be tough, but it’s really hard for her. That’s why she kind of gets this punishment to be a cat on Earth and learn how to actually be evil.

Definitely. I loved the dynamic between the two of you where sometimes you kind of hate each other and are at each other’s throats, other times you’re acting like the best of friends. I thought that was really interesting how that was explored.

Zamata: There’s a thin line between good and evil.

Ellis: And love and hate.

There’s obviously a lot of comedy in this show, and it’s very funny, I laughed throughout the whole thing. But there’s also a lot of heart to it, along with some other elements. Were you guys expecting that from a show called Exploding Kittens?

Ellis: It was a pleasant surprise, actually, when I watched it. There’s punchline after punchline after punchline in it. It very much tonally lives in that world, so you’re not expecting it to have other feels, I guess. It’s surprising, but also great that it’s got this central heart to it. I think all the best things I love, especially in comedy, are really, really funny, and then there are moments where they just take the rug from under your feet and you realize that you really feel for these characters. Even though they’re animated characters, there is this sense of heart and want for the family. It’s got a lovely humanity to it, even though it’s about two cats, God and the Devil.

Zamata: It’s interesting, you think it’s just going to be about silly cats and very slapsticky, but there is this warm, family aspect to it where you are rooting for them to get along. It’s very sweet and unexpected.

I was kind of surprised that there’s a horror element to it, too, with some twisted imagery and stuff like that. Maybe you should see it coming with Hell and all.

Zamata: Yeah, it’s got everything.

Ellis: It covers all bases. There’s some psychedelia in there as well, I think.

Definitely. Was there any specific moment when you guys were recording that was your favorite part to do? I know, right at the beginning, there are a couple of times when you guys were fighting. Was that easier to do or was it easier when you guys were getting along?

Zamata: Fighting is fun. There’s a lot of hype leading up to it. It takes a while for us to get there, but it’s nice that we get to play with this armageddon lead-up — we’re going to get to it, and then something happens and we don’t.

Ellis: I think learning about Bruce Willis in action movies and applying that to the fights was quite amusing as well. Getting an opportunity to say a Bruce Willis catchphrase; I didn’t think I’d get to do that on this.

Thanks to Tom Ellis and Sasheer Zamata for discussing Exploding Kittens.