Dana Gould has some big plans in store for Stan Against Evil season 3, which debuts on IFC Halloween night.
The hit horror comedy series gave fans an epic finale for season 2, with John C. McGinley’s Stan Miller effectively opening a portal to hell in Willard’s Mill with his time-traveling antics to save his late wife Claire. Stan and sheriff Evie Barret (Janet Varney) will have deal with the repercussions in season 3, and according to Gould, things are about to get even wackier on the show.
Dana Gould talks Stan Against Evil season 3, possible season 4 and more
“This year, we take a big leap in terms of the tone of the show,” Gould tells Metro. “I just think it’s bigger and crazier and funnier than it’s every been.”
The series’ creator reveals that Stan Against Evil season 3 will pay homage to several horror icons this year, including a certain, famous giant monster.
“We have some really big, crazy episodes,” says Gould. “We managed to do a Godzilla episode.”
“Trust me, it’s great,” he adds. “We have a Godzilla episode, we have evil puppets, we have a haunted hospital – we have a lot of great standalone episodes. And the story moves along as well.”
Working on Stan Against Evil has been a dream come true for the veteran comic and Simpsons alum. As a longtime horror fan, Gould admits that “this is the show I’ve always wanted to do” since he’s such a “monster movie nut.”
“I’ll never ever have another job where I get to indulge my fanboy side as much as I do here,” says Gould. “It is literally the perfect job.”
While one would think that horror comedy classics like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein would serve as major inspirations for Stan Against Evil, Gould reveals that he was actually inspired by shows he loved as a kid like Dark Shadows, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Night Gallery, as well as later works like The X-Files.
“I had an idea of what if I wrote a straight out horror show and then put right in the middle of it a character that didn’t belong there?” says Gould. “That was really the main idea of the show. It wasn’t based on an old horror comedy, it was based on an old horror movie. Basically it was, what if I did The X-Files, but Gillian Anderson had to work with my dad instead of David Duchovny? And that’s the show.”
“It took me decades to come up with an idea that simple,” he adds. “To me, the real influences on this show were the horror TV shows that I watched when I was very little.”
Although a Stan Against Evil season 4 hasn’t been officially greenlit yet, Gould hopes the show will get another season, as this year’s finale will set them up for a “clean slate” storywise going forward.
“If I’m fortunate enough to have a season 4, we have a really clean slate to go anywhere we want, and that’s very exciting.” says Gould. “I don’t like to repeat myself and I’m very proud of the fact that I don’t think we have repeated ourselves. Hopefully people will come along for the ride.”
Stan Against Evil season 3 premieres Wednesday, Oct. 31, at 10 p.m. on IFC.
