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Anyone who’s been watching HBO’s The Franchise will know that each episode ends with interviews with the characters, in the style of a movie’s promotional materials or Electronic Press Kit extras. What might not have become immediately apparent just yet, however, is that those interviews aren’t just the amusing add-ons that they initially appear to be, as was revealed at New York Comic Con 2024.

During The Franchise panel at NYCC 2024, series creator Jon Brown revealed, “We wrote these audition pages, so everyone would have sort of a four or five page monologue, so we could help cast [the series]. And then we’d shot the pilot, and Sam [Mendes, executive producer and director of the pilot]’s idea was, maybe we should use Richard’s one and then we supplemented it with [Jessica] Hynes’ as a kind of credit roll thing. So it came quite late, and then we found they were really fun to do.”

The sequences aren’t just fun, as he continued to explain. “We could open up characters some [and] sometime later in the season, we even use them to introduce people who then will be a bigger part in the following episode, or to unpack stuff. Like we said, the episodes move quite quickly, [and] there’s not time to stop and say, ‘this is the VFX guy,’ or ‘this is the explosives guy,’ or whatever. So they became useful as sort of, you know, both for extra jokes and for building plot points.”

So when you’re watching the show from now on — there’s a new episode tonight on HBO and Max! — pay close attention to what’s happening during the credits. The Franchise might not have time for a post-credit easter egg-filled scene, but they’re still managing to squeeze them in during the credits.

The Franchise airs Sundays on HBO, and streaming on Max.

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