'MYTHIC QUEST: RAVEN’S BANQUET’S' JESSIE ENNIS ON PLAYING JO, THE OPEN, CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT ON-SET AND TEASES SEASON 2 DYNAMICS

American Actress and director JESSIE ENNIS plays the funny and determined character of Jo, David’s assistant (David Hornsby) in Apple TV+’s comedy web television series Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet.

In the show, Mythic Quest is the biggest MMORPG in the world that is currently in the process of having its first major expansion, Raven's Banquet. 

Mythic Quest delivers a satirical view of the world of Gaming- featuring Game Developers, creators, testers, and the office of people behind your favorite games.

In this exclusive interview, we sat down with the actress to chat about the show, why people should watch it, her character’s nature and development, the privilege of having a fun, safe, creative, collaborative environment, and bringing joy to people.

PHOTOGRAPHY: IRVIN RIVERA

Why should people watch Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet?

I think it’s really funny and I’m really proud to be a part of the show. It handles a lot of topics with a lot of humor and the female cast really shines. Especially now, I think we need things to do that can make us laugh and forget the world and it definitely succeeds in doing that.

STYLING: SONIA YOUNG @THE ONLY AGENCY, MAKE-UP: LOREN CANBY @SWA AGENCY, HAIR: DRITAN VUSHAJ @FORWARD ARTISTS

It seems like a very fun show. It looks like The Office, and it’s really fun. How was it to play Jo’s seemingly dark and crazy role?

Jo was such a thrill to play because she’s really unlike any character that I’ve seen on TV before. She presents herself as this really hardworking, sweet, wholesome, mid-western conservative, but in all reality, she is driven to power with a terminal intensity. Unfortunately, she’s working for the world’s least most powerful man, played by David Hornsby.  And it’s really fun to play her drive and almost warpath to power in which she just completely abandons her post as David’s assistant and starts doing anything that Rob’s (Rob McElhenney) character, Ian, needs. And she even do things he doesn’t ask her to do. She goes to these extremes that play really well in the comedy world but I think if people will take it too seriously, they will just think that she’s full blown psychopathic, which was fun for me to play.

Would you say that’s the best part about playing her character?

Yeah. I really love the moments where she flips. Where she goes from this sweet girl to screaming profanities to people to get what she wants.

Which was totally unexpected in a way.

Yeah there are a lot of unexpected twists and turns throughout Jo’s character development, which was really fun to play. And a lot of it came on the day as improv, or quick jokes that Megan Ganz, one of our co-creators and writers, would throw at me. It was such a free and collaborative environment. It was so fun to get to watch it and to see the things that actually ended up in the show.

That’s awesome though to have an environment like that where you can play.

What’s your favorite episode from this season?

Oh that’s tough. I really love a lot of them. I love the third episode. I think it’s called The Casino. I really love the way they handled that topic with satire.  I really love the second episode too. I got a lot of opportunities to improvise in the second episode. It was the first episode where I really felt that I understood that I was building a home for myself with this group of people. I got into a rhythm into improvising with Rob. I started to spread my wings as Jo and I feel like we were starting to share my body, which is a really fun experience as an actor and you start to feel like you’re really syncing into the character that you’re supposed to be playing.

So, when I watched the second episode, I had these moments of being like, Oh yeah, this is when I started to really tap into who she is. But I really love all the episodes. I love the fifth episode, I’m not even in it but I’m really proud of that episode. I think it was awesome. And I love how it ties into the finale.

You mentioned something about being at-home on-set.  Isn’t it amazing that you are already renewed for season 2 even before the first episode aired?

It’s really thrilling and exciting to fall into this group of people. When I got cast we already had a full season order. We already knew we’re gonna do 9 episodes. And then before we even premiered we got renewed for the second season which infuses this sense of confidence when you go to work because you know that Apple, who is behind us, is really fully supporting us. They gave us a lot of creative license which is thrilling to get to benefit from. I get to play my character all out and I don’t have to be concerned with notes and stuff from the higher ups. And the creative ground around the show, we all really get along in a way that I hadn’t experience before. We had a pretty long hiatus but I never really felt like we stopped hanging out. We would go into escape rooms or we would create a Dungeons and Dragons league. The women on the show have a text chain, a thread that we stay up to date, almost everyday. We’re constantly updating each other with what’s going on with our personal lives.

What can fans expect from the second season?

What’s really fun is that in season 1, we’ve established a lot of the personalities and the dynamics in the office, so now that we’ve established all the groundwork, we get to really play with new pairings, new dynamics and there’s some really wacky stuff that’s gonna happen that I’m really excited to shoot. Already in the first episode, we’ve done some new groupings of characters. I’m gonna get to work with the testers a little bit more and there’s a lot of fraught dynamics there which is really fun to play.

If you were a book, what book would you be and why?

I remembering answering this question for my college admissions and I created a fake book called Fail Fail Funny. As a comedian, as a comic actor, I kinda just have to throw things against the wall and that they don’t always stick. I’ve gotten really comfortable with the fact that I get to make mistakes because I know that eventually, it’s gonna pay off. There’s a lot of freedom to feeling like I don’t have to succeed every single moment in my life. I get to take risks and not have a payoff the way that I expected, and take another risk and hear a laugh.

That’s awesome. It’s just having fun and experiencing what you have without actually overthinking.

And the thing that makes me the happiest in my life is bringing joy and happiness to people. Getting to hear people laugh is what makes my blood pump.