What Is Prime Video's 'Secret Level'? Here's Which Video Games Will Feature in Each Episode

Prime Video's new anthology series, Secret Level, made a mark at this year's New York Comic Con. Born from one of the creators of LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS, this 15-episode juggernaut pays homage to timeless gaming classics while exploring the thrilling worlds of new titles. First announced in August during the Gamescom Opening Night Live global livestream, this adult-animated project celebrates epic stories inspired by a diverse range of game IP in a single series.

Secret Level is the very definition of the words "passion project." Longtime animator and Deadpool director, Miller, worked in collaboration with his Blur Studio colleague, director, VFX supervisor, and producer, Wilson, and teams of talented animation studios to offer a completely unique viewing experience. The series is a compilation of hard work that celebrates the video games we've grown up with or are anxiously anticipating, from Mega Man to PlayStation classics and beyond. In addition to the beauitful animation, the series also features vocal talents from Keanu Reeves, Laura Bailey, Kevin Hart, Claudia Doumit, Temuera Morrison, Gabriel Luna, and more.

At the con, Collider's very own Steve Weintraub had the opportunity to sit down with Secret Level creator Tim Miller and executive producer Dave Wilson to discuss what fans can expect when the show hits Prime Video this December. In their interview, Miller and Wilson talk about penning one of the episodes with Arnold Schwarzenegger in mind and how he ended up involved with the show. They also provide rapid-fire summaries of each episode, and discuss Wilson's experience directing "Warhammer 40,000". Check out our interview with the creators in the player above, or read the full conversation below.

What It's Like Having Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'Secret Level'

COLLIDER: How are you both doing?

DAVE WILSON: Pretty good. Thank you for having us.

TIM MILLER: Happy to be here. It's my first New York Comic Con.

I've seen one episode of your show and I can now talk about it because the embargo is lifted. It was fucking awesome.

MILLER: Steve was, off-camera, very complimentary about that episode.

That episode is fantastic. It’s “New World: Aeternum.” For people who don’t realize, you have Arnold Schwarzenegger in it, and he is fantastic. Talk a little bit about that specific episode and having Arnold play that character without spoilers.

MILLER: He had a great time. The pitch is great. Dave does this great outline of every episode where he kind of sums it up in a quick one, and his summation of that episode is, “What if Conan was all talk?” That was kind of the pitch of the show, and it was great. Then, of course, we got Arnold to do it.

WILSON: Those two things happened at the same time.

MILLER: Did it?

WILSON: Oh, yeah. We wrote it for him. We didn't follow a typical casting process on the show. I would get these videos periodically from Tim, and this one was Arnold Schwarzenegger saying, “Whatever you want me to do, I'll be in the show.” I was sitting in a room with JT writing stories, and I'm like, “Let's pivot and write something different.” That's where “New World” came from.

The reason I think that episode works so well, besides the animation being beautiful, is that it's really violent, it's very funny, and it has heart.

MILLER: It does have a lot of heart.

WILSON: We sat in a room with John Scalzi. We brought back a lot of the authors from Love, Death & Robots, which are based on short stories. Action-comedy, I would say Scalzi excels at. He has a very dry sense of humor, too, so he came in and helped us with that pitch. I can't remember where the heartfelt ending came from. I think it might have been JT. But yes, we wanted there to be something redeeming at the end.

MILLER: I have to point out that it's a two-hander, and the other character in that, Scavola, his sidekick, is Steven Pacey, who is a great British actor but also reads Joe Abercrombie's books. If you listen to the books on tape, they're my favorite books in the fucking universe, and he is just the best voice actor ever and a good on-screen actor before that. But I highly recommend listening to him read those books.

Why 'Secret Level' Is Set for a Two-Day Release

Fans are gonna love that episode, but I'm curious: you have 15 episodes — do they all drop on December 10th? Is it a spaced-out thing?

WILSON: We drop, I wanna say half, but it's not exactly half. It's December 10th and December 17th.

MILLER: 15 is not divisible by two. It’s two drops. The main reason, for a variety of reasons, is I like the idea of the show building a little momentum. Hopefully, there's word of mouth, and people can come back. But also, I think it was you that told me, that's been established as best practices. But also, it's really hard to put Spelunky next to Warhammer and have people enjoy them both equally.

WILSON: So, they're slightly curated based on the sort of adult audience versus less so.

I actually think it's a way smart move to do two different-day releases, because when it drops one day, it's like you're the buzz for that weekend, and then it just goes away.

WILSON: We played with many versions. The amazing thing that we didn't even realize when we were starting the show is that it's not just Amazon promoting the show. There are 15 publishers and developers. That's a lot of megaphones to try and blast in a cacophony on one weekend, right? So, our goal was always, “Can we give folks a little bit more of a runway to help us promote the show and put it out there?” It was always the plan to try and stagger it in some way.

MILLER: We couldn’t have the influencers talk about it on Twitch and other media. You wanna give everybody their moment to shine instead of just the big tent pole IPs sucking up all the air in the room.

Rapid-Fire Breakdown of Every 'Secret Level' Episode

"We disemboweled your childhood."

I totally understand. There are 15 episodes, I’m gonna say each one, and really fast I want you to tell the audience what you’re excited about, is it super violent. Whatever you want to tell people about each episode. “Armored Core.”

WILSON: It’s Mech Top Gun meets Drive.

A+. That's very good. “Concord.”

WILSON: The last ride of Captain Cassidy and the freegunners.

MILLER: Guardians of the Galaxy meets Thelma and Louise.

WILSON: That's better.

“Crossfire.”

MILLER: The most-played game on planet Earth.

WILSON: Or Heat in a hurricane.

I need to see these episodes. “Dungeons & Dragons.”

WILSON: Our challenge with DND with Wizards was “dragons like we've never seen them before.”

That was the direction that they gave?

WILSON: Somewhat, yes. So we have the best dragons.

“Exodus.”

MILLER: It's Jack London's Odyssey of the North with time travel.

I gotta see these. “Honor of Kings.”

WILSON: That is Ingrid Bergman's Game of Death meets Arrival.

These are like words that never go together until today. I've never heard something like that.

MILLER: That one sounds pretentious.

WILSON: It does, but we tried.

“Mega Man.”

WILSON: The beginning.

MILLER: Yes. It's the origin story — or our version of the origin story.

“PAC-MAN.”.

WILSON: We disemboweled your childhood. That's “PAC-MAN.”

The PlayStation one.

WILSON: PlayStation is a love letter to gaming. It's the whole series, but its inception was a love letter to true cinematic storytelling gaming.

MILLER: It's the competition between the games that addicted you and the games that take you places.

WILSON: You stole that from my show and tell.

MILLER: Yes, I did.

“Sifu.”

WILSON: There is a line from True Detective that I love that is the basis for this episode, which is, “Life's only long enough to get good at one thing. Be careful what you get good at.”

“Spelunky.”

WILSON: Tamsyn Muir wrote the episode. Tamsyn wrote Gideon the Ninth. It would be, “Life’s an adventure. Just step outside the door.”

“The Outer Worlds.”

WILSON: A sci-fi retelling of The Giving Tree.

“Unreal Tournament.”

WILSON: Oh, mate, I hope you love techno music.

MILLER: Gladiator meets WALL-E.

WILSON: Yes, meets Ex Machina meets techno music.

MILLER: Nah, it's Gladiator. Come on.

WILSON: Yes. It’s Ex Machina meets Gladiator.

MILLER: That episode tested through the fucking roof. It's amazing. I mean, I'm not surprised.

I know you directed “Warhammer 40,000.” Tim has said a little bit about Warhammer, and I've run it on the site, but I do want to hear from you as an uber fan. What was it like to direct Warhammer, and what do you wanna tell people real quick?

WILSON: 20 years ago, we did our first Warhammer trailer at Blur, and we've been trying to get more 40K every year for 20 years. I'm so glad. It was a very personal homecoming for me. My father died literally while we were writing that story, and the folks at Games Workshop — we couldn't have asked for better collaborators. I think the hard thing about Warhammer is to tell a concise story, and all it really is is an emotional poem about, like, can we control what our children become? It is a very weirdly violent, personal story, but I love it and I'm hoping they let us do more.

Secret Level will debut its first drop on Prime Video on December 10th, followed by a second drop on December 17th.