President Curtis premiered this past weekend immediately following the season nine finale of Rick and Morty—and the stars of that show popped up in the first episode to give the spin-off their (snarky) blessing. Ahead of President Curtis‘ second-season renewal news, which was announced this past weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, io9 got a chance to talk to its stars: Keith David, who plays the POTUS, and Jim Rash, who plays Secret Service Agent O’Doyle.
It’s a reunion for the Community co-stars, as well as the latest genre project for David, whose sci-fi and horror cred stretches back decades. Here, of course, he plays a president tasked with battling the literal monsters who routinely try to cause trouble for the American people.
Cheryl Eddy, io9: President Curtis is not trying to be a South Park-style commentary on politics, but it is pretty wild to have such a fun show about the White House coming out in 2026. What do you hope your audience will take away from it given the context?
Keith David: For the half-hour that we spend in the world of President Curtis, we get to not have to think about some of the stuff that’s going on in the rest of the world. And we get to have a little fun. I mean, because sometimes it’s not.
Jim Rash: And I think coming out of the world of Rick and Morty, the world’s established, and I think that we’re living in this world, and I think the escapism of that and their adventures is a place—like anything that’s been escapist, whether it’s a period piece or a different decade, it’s just a joy to live in that arena for a while.
io9: As the show begins, Banks, played by Stephanie Beatriz, is just coming aboard the team with Curtis and O’Doyle. But we don’t really get to see how O’Doyle and Curtis came to work so closely together. What do you think those early days were like, and how do you characterize their relationship when we see them on the show working together?
David: I think that they had a past relationship, and as Curtis moves up, he gets to choose who he wants to be around. It’s like, “Hey, man. Let’s do this. I got a shot. Come with me.” And we get to discover a lot of things together. It’s like, “Why are you doing that? Well, I don’t know why you’re doing that. This never came up before.”
Rash: My guess, if I take cues from what we know once Banks arrives, I think [that she’s] the conduit for which you are finding out some things that bother O’Doyle. Part of that is his distrust of her, but more so that brother-sister thing. And there’s a new person in town to take President Curtis’s attention away from O’Doyle. And I think that that speaks to where it all started for them. And I bet you O’Doyle really told President Curtis everything he wanted to hear for a long time. Because he can’t lie.
io9: President Curtis is a badass, but he doesn’t always make the right choices, and he does have some vulnerabilities. He’s lonely. Do you think that makes him a better leader?
David: Absolutely. And his willingness to admit it. Because that’s what kind of humanizes him. It really makes him a man of the people, because he will say what’s on his mind, but he will also say, you know, “I’m just like you. If you were in my shoes, you would have done the same thing. Come on.”
io9: And even though he regularly saves the day, he’s also got this image problem that we see emerging as the season goes on. What do you think that says about the show’s version of America, that they aren’t entirely on board with this badass?
David: We’re willing to go along with whatever happens in the White House and to follow the leader, and hopefully he, when he makes bad choices, admits it and will come back and do something better. I mean, we all make mistakes. You know? It’s really not about the mistakes so much as how do you come back?
Rash: Exactly. Whether you deny it or say “big deal” is different from “I did make a mistake.”
io9: I love the detail that O’Doyle is half leprechaun. It gives him incredible powers, but he also has this internal turmoil and rage that will bubble up from time to time. What was it like for you getting to play both sides of that character?
Rash: Well, I understood the inner rage. I’m such a rageful person.
David: [Laughs]
Rash: It was a blast because, like with any of these shows, the evolution of both what comes up vocally and what the writers discover or change in the moment. So to go from this sort of dry and very proper and, you know, by-the-books person and then have a little petulance start to peek in—and then this leprechaun and mother issues and rage and all the things he can’t deal with. It gives you all those layers that will sail much more as the episodes go on.
io9: Many of the episodes end with Curtis singing in the shower, kind of reflecting back on what’s happened—
Rash: Contractually, he gets to sing, contractually.
David: [Laughs]
io9: How did that come about? Were any of those lines improvised, or did they script them out?
David: As Jim said earlier, the writer has an idea about what they want the character to be. Then we get into the booth, and as we start collaborating, they will start writing to your strengths or to your things that they think would be interesting. And, you know, I’m always singing something somewhere, so they just elaborated on it. I was happy to do it.
Rash: Can I just say there was no greater gift than the fact that we were doing Community and Keith had a concert coming up or was going to be singing at something or I don’t know what—the vocal warm-ups around you were divine. Because he would just be singing or softly, you know, keeping it warm.
io9: Keith, you’ve done every genre across film and TV and theater in your career, but it feels like sci-fi is special to you, going back to The Thing and They Live. What do you love so much about science fiction that makes you want to keep doing projects in that vein?
David: Possibility. The wonderful thing about sci-fi and why I love sci-fi and horror is because in a really great story, the premise is something that could happen. Given a certain set of circumstances, this is not impossible or improbable. In fact, the more you follow the premise that you start with—we all want to believe in the story that we’re being told. As long as we don’t veer away from that, it’s like, it just sucks you in. And nowadays with technology where it is, there’s no end to the imagination. Some of this stuff could be true. And that’s a great springboard.
New episodes of President Curtis arrive Sundays on Adult Swim; you can also catch them the next day on HBO Max.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
