From co-creators Stephen Merchant and Elgin James, the six-episode crime thriller comedy series The Outlaws (which has already shot a second season) follows a group of individuals, each different ages and from different backgrounds, who have all done things that put them on a path that ended with them working to complete a community service sentence together. They start as seven strangers, but quickly learn how much they actually have in common, which bonds them in a way that inspires them to be there for each other, even if that leads them on a dangerous journey.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, James talked about juggling working on The Outlaws with being the showrunner for Mayans M.C., how he learned about the success of the series in the UK, the unlikely pairing with Merchant and what made them want to work together, how six episodes a season felt like the right amount, working with cinema icons like Edward James Olmos (on Mayans) and Christopher Walken (on The Outlaws), and possible plans for a third season.
Collider: I tremendously enjoyed the show. Congratulations on the first season being the BBC’s biggest comedy launch in 2021 and already doing a second season. That’s always a good sign.
ELGIN JAMES: Always a good sign. It’s so awesome. I’m so proud of it.
When did you realize that this show was such a success and was really connecting with viewers? Does someone call and give you that news? Do you get a lot of social media comments?
JAMES: It was Sarah Bolger, from Mayans M.C., who’s Irish. She was talking to her family, and that’s when I really found out because for the first time, they were like, “We can’t believe that you’re on a show from the co-creator of The Outlaws.” And she was like, “Yes, I’ve been on this show for four seasons now. Why are you finally giving me this validation?” That was actually the moment she called me laughing about that, about how much her family enjoyed it. That was the moment where I was like, “Oh, this is really taking off.” They haven’t seen it in the States yet, and I’ve been talking about it for so long that it became like, “Oh, yeah, sure, that show. You’ve been talking about that for five years.” So, it’s been really incredible to have friends in the UK that are hitting me back about it.
I have to admit that you and Stephen Merchant is not a pairing that I expected, but I absolutely love it. How did you guys come to work and collaborate together on this?
JAMES: It’s really funny. I keep saying we’re the billboard for this show because we seem so different, we come from different walks of life, and we look so different. We look like a comedy routine. I’m short and brown, and he’s so tall and white. We met at one of those places where you have to order in line, which is always the most awkward way to meet somebody. He was standing in line next to me, but within 30 seconds, we were just dudes. We were just bros. We love the same things. More importantly, we hate the same things. We just found that we had so much in common. I think that our friendship and our creative partnership really was growing while, ironically, we were seeing past each other’s boxes and the boxes that we’ve been put in. At the same time, we were trying to do that with these characters, which was pretty magical. His parents had worked in community service in Bristol, and I’d committed a couple of crimes, so it just seemed like a perfect mix.
Stephen Merchant directed episodes of this, and I noticed that you hadn’t, even though you have directed Mayans. Did you want to direct any episodes? Is it just not possible with scheduling?
JAMES: Yeah, I was here (in Los Angeles). We were going it concurrently, like a prison sentence. I was doing Mayans while he was there. I’ve still never been to Bristol. I would FaceTime with the writers’ room sometimes, when they’re in England, but I’d be going to Santa Clarita, California, where we write and shoot Mayans. I would go to this soulless business park to go work in this writers’ room that, at the time, was in a conference room with no windows, to talk about drugs and murder. I would FaceTime these people and there would be this soft English light coming through the window. They’d be in these overstuffed chairs, drinking tea, just having the best time, and I was like, “I’ve made terrible choices in my life. Why am I not there with them, right now?” But I was [in L.A.], showrunning and writing and directing Mayans. It was about having a partner like Stephen. There’s no one that I trust more. There’s no one that I would want to direct more than him. The fact that he wrote, produced, directed and acted in it is just next-level masochism.
What are the biggest challenges in pulling this show off and in juggling the two shows? Were there challenges that you never could have imagined, trying to do both shows at the same time?
JAMES: Definitely. It’s the Venn diagram of your biggest dream and your worst nightmare, smack dab in the middle. Stephen just carried all this weight, over in the UK. They got shut down, just a few weeks into shooting, because of COVID quarantine and the shutdown, while we were getting shut down on Mayans. There are so many challenges anyway, but at the same time, we’re so lucky to be doing this. Stephen and I have worked on this for five years, at this point. It’s like, “This is your shot. You’ve gotta keep grinding.” Stephen just put all the weight on his back and ran it over the finish line, with that talented cast and crew.
Six episodes a season feels so short, especially when you’re used to doing American television. Does it feel that way when you’re doing the show? How hard is it to tell the story that you want to tell, with just six hours?
JAMES: You know, six actually felt right. As a viewer, I hate six hours. You watch these amazing English shows like, “What? It’s over?” But as a storyteller, it’s perfect. It’s the perfect amount. Sometimes, you’re squeezing things out. With Mayans, we have a lot of characters that we have to service. It’s the same thing with every ensemble. Watching them back myself, it did feel really short, but it felt great for what we had to tell. We’re lucky that we got picked up for the second season because we got to just keep rolling and we shot them back to back. It was exhausting, for sure, but I think it really helped the project.
I love that you work with one cinema icon, with Edward James Olmos on Mayans, and then you also work with another cinema icon, with Christopher Walken on The Outlaws. What is it like to do a project with Christopher Walken and to see him bringing something of yours to life?
JAMES: It’s incredible. With these icons that you grow up with watching, and you never even think your name could ever be uttered in the same sentence with, it’s incredible. We spent a lot of time on all the characters, but we spent a lot of time on Frank, wanting him to feel like The Man Who Fell to Earth, and how he’d be different than everybody else, but still the same. To hear Christopher Walken say these words that you thought up or that you wrote down is incredibly surreal. It feels almost like a fever dream. Christopher and Eddie are people who love what they do. They love the craft. They love storytelling. You hear the stories from the set, of Christopher and how he works and how committed he is, and it’s just incredible. It’s inspiring.
Writers always talk about how there is a little bit of themselves in every character they create and write. Is there one of these characters that you feel is closest to you, or that you have the most fun getting to play with?
JAMES: It’s funny, with Stephen and I, in so many ways, we are all of them. I think it’s Rani. Christian seems like the obvious one, and I definitely get that, and with his sister as well. That’s a hard one because I do identify with every single one of them. Greg is the only one I don’t understand. That’s all Stephen. Funnily enough, they all cycle through. It’s fun to write John because he’s so different than the box we put ourselves in, politically, so you’re forced to then think about things differently. That’s what I love about this show and how they executed it. You’re agreeing with Myrna and seeing eye to eye with her, and then John says something and you’re totally agreeing with him because he’s totally right too, and the truth is somewhere in the middle. So, that was a lot of fun. John was a lot of fun.
Are there plans for a Season 3? Do you feel like you’ve told a complete story with two seasons, or do you feel like there’s still more story to tell?
JAMES: I think there’s more story to tell. Stephen and I have talked about it. It’s funny because it started as a film. That’s when we realized that 90 minutes was just not enough time for us to really do these stories and these characters justice. And then, six hours wasn’t enough time. It’s just such a rich world and so relatable, to have all these people come together. We’ve talked about how you can cycle people out because it’s temporary. You can cycle in new characters and it can take place in other places. It’s so universal. I just wanna keep hanging out with Stephen, so we’ll keep doing it as long as they let us. We wanna just keep hanging out and talking. What’s incredible about working and writing with Stephen is that he acts out all the roles. All of a sudden, he stands up and he’s acting out Gabby, or he’s acting out Myrna. It was a blast.
The Outlaws is available to stream at Prime Video on April 1st.