Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwaiseason 2 isGremlins: The Wild Batch, a new story that takes place a year after the first season left off. Sam Wing, Gizmo, and Elle are still at the heart of things, and a surprise trip to America inches the animatedGremlinsworld ever closer to the time and setting of the 1984 original film. The series comes from creators and producers Tze Chun and Brendan Hay, withGremlinsdirector Joe Dante on as a consulting producer and Steven Spielberg serving as executive producer.
Although a younger generation is at the heart ofGremlins: The Wild Batch, the Wing family is still very much a part of the proceedings this time around.The Book of Boba FettandAgents of Shieldstar Ming-Na WenandEverything Everywhere All At Once’s James Hong return to reprise their respective roles as Fong and Grandpa, with each actor bringing their considerable talent and wealth of experience to their roles. With the new season bringing its characters to San Francisco, Fong and Grandpa will face their own challenges even as they try to support young Sam and his companions.
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Screen RantinterviewedGremlins: Secrets of the Mogwaicastmembers Ming-Na Wen and James Hong about their return to the world ofGremlins. In conversation, the actors reflected on relating to their characters, and their characters’ relationships with each other. Wen and Hong also discussed how, despite its fantastical nature,Gremlins: The Wild Batchtouches on the immigrant experience through the Wing family’s journey to America.
Ming-Na Wen Discusses Relating To Fong In Gremlins: The Wild Batch
“The Closest Of Most Of The Characters That I’ve Played To Myself”
Screen Rant: Ming-Na, I know you are a mom. I just interviewed Izaac Wang, who said Sam’s parents in this season have to learn to accept his adventurous side. How much from your own life are you able to bring into that kind of a story?
Ming-Na Wen: Fong is definitely the closest of most of the characters that I’ve played to myself as far as she’s a mom and she’s taking care of her parents as well, so she’s sort of stuck in this sandwich generation. Although I am strict in certain things and I put boundaries on my kids, I do allow them to fly a bit more than Fong does. For Fong, she’s just reacting and becoming the opposite of what her father was, which is James Hong’s character, Grandpa. I love the fact that she is sort of the grounding force of all the mayhem and chaos that is happening. She’s constantly trying to control all the different aspects and trying to keep her family together and safe. But ultimately I think she becomes more like me where she allows a little bit more fun and adventure into her life, and she allows Sam to make his own mistakes and make his own decisions.
James Hong: I think Ming-Na is right. [Fong] does want to control everything as a mother. She even wants to control me. I’m the father. “Respect for the elders” is what the Chinese would say. How can she put me down? She’s got to compliment me instead of telling me what is wrong, and she tries to do the same thing with her own son—keep him down with the thumb. I try to alleviate the situation and let the kid blossom out more and find himself in this new world. With my magic and knowhow, I try to guide this young man to a new future, a brighter future, in spite of what the mother wants to do.
Ming-Na Wen: [Laughs] She just wants to control her men, her husband included.
James Hong Compares His Own Story To Grandpa’s
Hong Recalls Being “Almost Brainwashed” By The Kinds Of Stories Grandpa Would Tell
James, one of the things I love about Grandpa in this show is that he’s just a book of mythology. He knows so much about this world and magic, like you said. I know Tze Chun brought a lot of stories that he heard from his parents [into this show]. In terms of your life, are these creatures and this mythology [things] that you learned about when you were growing up from your family as well?
James Hong: That’s a good question because, actually, my mother and father were first generation. They were born in China, so they carried that culture to America. My mother used to read books that she brought from her village, and she used to read them aloud because that was the custom in the old days. That was the entertainment. There was no TV, no radio, nothing, so it was always reading from books. You read it aloud in this rhythm, and I would be almost brainwashed by what my mother was reading. All these creatures and supernatural beings that could breathe and blow the sails down from the ships and all that stuck with me as I grew up.
In a sense, Grandfather is that same thing, because he came from China and brought all that to America. The kids got kind of sick of that, in a way, in Shanghai, and so they wrap up and go to America to try something new. Of course, there, they have to learn what we, as an audience, learn by seeing the episodes in America. I want you to tune in and find out along with me what the children have to face.
Wen & Hong Reflect On Gremlins: The Wild Batch’s Story Of Immigration
“It’s Coming From A Real Situation”
This season does have the characters making their way to America. I know you both have your own experiences with something like that. What does it mean to both of you to have Sam’s family make the journey from Shanghai over to the US?
Ming-Na Wen: That’s what made America—immigration, and all the immigrants that came here and brought their culture, their work ethics and their families. I found out that [Tze] incorporated a lot of his own grandfather’s stories of coming to this country into a lot of the animation, and that’s wonderful because that makes it even more authentic. It’s coming from the heart and it’s coming from a real situation. I think especially these days, it’s a good reminder of those stories, including my own. We came from Hong Kong to America and I was very young and had to learn English here. That fish-out-of-water experience of not knowing and not feeling like you belong sticks with you for a while, so I think it’s great to feel like we are part of the fabric of America and help to create what makes this country so strong and thriving.
James Hong: For me, I think my father typifies what happens in this [season], because he was from the village of Taishan and then came to America to hope to find a better life. He had to struggle with being an American in the early days, and then he found it a little bit tough. He thought we, the children, were becoming too American, so he took the whole family back to Kowloon. We lived in a nice little apartment, but very crowded, and I remember going to grade school there. Then, my father did a very stupid thing. He gambled, like a lot of the Chinese do. I think he had a big business and he gambled everything away, and we had to get on the ship and rush out of there before the debt collectors came. So, when he came back to America, he had to start off all over again.
So, in a sense, this story is about Grandfather coming to America and, in a way, starting up all over again. He had been to America before, as you will see. I don’t want to give away too much, but this is not the first time Grandpa is here in San Francisco. He has to face the situation of what happened before, now with added monsters, more Mogwai, feelings of the past, and so-called Chinese monsters coming to America following him. And, Grandpa has to face new ones. You have to see the episodes to realize what I’m talking about. I am in awe to be in it. I’m so happy to be a voice in this series because Joe Dante did such a good job, and the producer, Dan Krall, and writers Tze Chung and Brendan Hay… wonderful.
To be in a team, especially with Ming-Na voicing my daughter and harassing me, it’s a pleasure. However, I want to be in a new movie with her where we are the best of friends instead of antagonizing each other. No matter what we do. In Mulan, [for example], we were adversaries in a way, so maybe fans can write in and tell us what you would like to see us in. Give us some ideas. We’ll put it into a script if it’s possible.
Ming-Na Wen: Your character, Grandpa, brings so much humor into the animation. Gremlins can get very scary at times, which is great because that is the genre, that is the OG, and I just love that Grandpa character brings so much humor as well as his stories. That is magic.
James Hong: That is wonderful. Yeah, that’s true. I liked it a lot. I’m so happy and honored to be in this series, and I hope fans and supporters out there feel the same way I do. It’s a great series. You know what I mean? When you look at the first episode, you’ll be with me all the way.
Ming-Na Wen: And then maybe in season three we’ll have something with a “running away from debt” storyline. Grandpa gambles away our money.
About Gremlins: The Wild Batch
Taking place one year after the events of season one, Gremlins: The Wild Batch follows Gizmo, Sam, and Elle as they travel from their home in Shanghai to San Francisco, bringing even more magic, mystery and Mogwai mayhem. Hot on the trail of a new brood of evil Mogwai, our heroes journey deep into the American West, coming up against new supernatural creatures and picking up a few mysterious characters along the way.
Check back for our interview with A.J. LoCascio, Izaac Wang & Gabrielle Nevah.
Gremlins
Cast
Gremlins is an animated television series that serves as a prequel to the classic 1984 movie Gremlins. Starring Izaac Wang as Sam Wing, the show explores Gizmo’s origins before the events of the first movie.
