One of DreamWorks’ most memorable characters returns this Friday March 1st. Feature-length movie Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate and series Megamind Rules both debut on Peacock. Director & EP Eric Fogel (of Archibald’s Next Big Thing) shares how he approached the comeback of this supervillain turned superhero, including making the movie and the show simultaneously. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: It’s been a little over 13 years since the first “Megamind” movie. What excited you about diving back into this character?

Eric Fogel: I think when the original movie ended, we were in an interesting place with Megamind going from supervillain to superhero. And I think, as a fan of that original movie, I wanted to see what life would be like for him, as a hero, defending Metro City, or as he likes to call it, Metrocity.

JM: Yes, yes, that’s very funny. And yeah, I think a lot of us wondered what was gonna happen next. I remember when “Megamind” came out in November 2010 and it blew people away because of the spin that it had on the superhero genre when the modern superhero movie impact of it all was just getting going. Do you remember the immediate impact it had on you?

EF: I do. It was almost ahead of its time, wasn’t it? When it came out… I think the original “Iron Man” had just come out [two years before], so it was just slightly ahead of that curve in terms of the way it kind of skewered the superhero genre.

JM: Yeah, and now we’re back in it. And the movie, “Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate”, takes place just a couple days after the events of the first movie. Was that an easy decision for you to say, “Hey, let’s pick it up basically right where we left off?”

EF: Yeah. And that was a product of the brilliant script that Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons wrote — the original writers of the original film. And it was their idea to basically just pick it up as if no time had passed and through the magic of animation we can do that, and it’s amazing. He hasn’t aged a day.

JM: There is a new name for one of the main characters in it. Minion Becomes Ol’ Chum. You guys have a very clever way of getting into why that happened.

EF: So, you know, there was another film that came out in this very same year in 2010 called “Despicable Me”, with some little characters that you may or may not have heard of called Minions. And so we just felt… maybe it’d just be easier just to kind of sidestep that whole situation and give him a new name, Chum. It means shark bait. It also means old friend. You choose.

JM: That works very well. Good decision there. And the actor voicing Megamind is Keith Ferguson. Keith has been one of the most in demand voice actors of the last 20 years, providing some voice work as Lightning McQueen in some of the “Cars” shorts as well. He is really, really talented.

EF: Thank you. Yeah, one of the most challenging things was… that original voice cast was stellar, right? Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Brad Pitt. My hat goes off to the incredible casting department that we work with at DreamWorks who are able to bring in these super talented voice actors to not only sort of emulate what was done back then, but then build on it. Keith is a voiceover legend and he just brings so much pathos and humor to this character. He’s also a brilliant improvisational actor. So working with him and all the voice cast was just a delight for me.

JM: Let’s get into the story of the movie a little bit. I like how we are introduced to the Doom Syndicate and all of the different personalities that they have. It’s really clever. Tell everyone about the role of the Doom Syndicate and the influence they have on Megamind and what’s going on in this film.

EF: For me, the model for the Doom Syndicate and the way that they sort of influence Megamind in the story was the film “Raising Arizona”. If you might recall, you know, H.I. McDonough [Nicolas Cage] is trying to just live a life with Holly Hunter and they steal a baby and then these characters come back from his past and they just sort of hunker down in his house. “What are we going to do today?” They still think he’s a bad guy. It was a very similar thing here. So using that reference really helped me kind of get into the zone in terms of who the Doom Syndicate are and were for Megamind. In the past, it turns out Megamind was part of a super villain team. And the Doom Syndicate was that team. They don’t necessarily know or believe that he’s a good guy. They think he’s sort of fronting. So when they come in, they’re like, “Yeah, you fooled them all. What are we going to do now? What kind of crimes are we going to commit?” And that puts Megamind in this really dicey situation where he has to walk this razor’s edge between them finding out he’s a good guy and still playing the role of the hero.

JM: I love “Raising Arizona”. That’s a fantastic comparison, and it makes so much sense! What everyone will be able to explore as well is the dynamic between Roxanne and Keiko — a new character in this, and I really enjoyed that.

EF: Keiko is an original character new to this world. And I think with that character, we wanted to bring in a new point of view and a younger perspective and someone that could call Megamind out. Megamind is a little bit of a dinosaur when it comes to technology and social media. So she’s going to be there to help him along with that. And she’s a super fan, so she just wants to be part of this team as well. And she sort of earns the right to do so. And then as you pointed out, there’s a really nice relationship that builds between Keiko and Roxanne as Megamind’s kind of supporting team there — building on this team that he has. And they both really play very, very important roles in his life and in his world. And it’s nice to see those relationships build as the series progresses. And they really do, in very satisfying ways — the relationships really build and culminate. And I’m so excited for people to just see this all the way through.

JM: And someone very important in your life, especially your career, is Tony Hale, the star of “Archibald’s Next Big Thing”, which you brought to life. A wonderful show. And now with the Megamind movie, you get to reunite with Tony Hale, who has a great supporting role in this.

EF: I love Tony and I knew that I wanted to find a place for him in this show. So he’s a light recurring character throughout the series. He shows up first in the movie as Mel, and then as Mr. Donut, and he’s a delight. Everything that comes out of his mouth makes me laugh, and I’m so happy we were able to have him back for this.

JM: What a talented voice actor. And another talented individual with quite a voice is Adam Lambert. Adam does the main theme song. You hear it a little bit in the movie. It’s the theme song for the show. He voices a character as well. He is a powerhouse.

EF: We won the lottery with him. He auditioned for the role of Machiavillain. All of us collectively just felt that he brought that voice and that character to another level. And it wasn’t even a question. It was sort of unanimous. He’s the guy. I remember that first day. Very unassuming, very personable, just a sweetheart. From day one, just working with him, it was always like, “You know, I think I could try that again. I think I could do that a little bit better”. And he was always just giving us so much and more than we would ever imagine in terms of voicing that character. And then to be able to utilize that singing voice, and I’m not going to spoil anything, but it becomes very important later in the series — his musicality.

JM: I’ve had this song in my head all day getting ready for this interview.

EF: I’ve had it for three years in my head! (laughs) I’ve been working on this for almost three years now. So it’s been quite a journey. To finally have it out in the world is huge.

JM: So a movie and a TV series come out on the same day. Does that mean you work on a movie and a series simultaneously?

EF: Yes. Yeah, that was a very interesting experience — a very challenging experience to be able to do that. But one that I knew that I was up for. Part of what drew me to this project was the idea that I got to make a movie. So, I knew we were going to be able to figure it out. It was all kind of constructed within a TV animation pipeline. But that said, I knew that we needed to make this thing cinematic and feel sort of epic. And I’m so proud of what we were able to pull off with a really miniscule budget. But it doesn’t feel that way. I think it really feels like a movie. And the series carries that feeling. This kind of cinematic quality doesn’t stop with the movie. It carries all the way through the series.

JM: That must have been a major test of your brain to keep track of everything and to handle everything doing something like this.

EF: You have to be good at puzzles and one of the things that as a filmmaker, and certainly as a showrunner on this show, [is] to be part of every single part of the process — from writing to voice recording, through design and boards and everything. So having all that knowledge is really crucial in terms of informing the teams what we need. Sometimes people come into these things without knowing the full picture. It was really my job to sort of provide context of, “Here’s where we are now. Here’s where we’re going. Here’s what has to happen here, here, and here, and this is why.” And it’s all this sort of compartmentalized information that you dole out. And that’s how you do it.

JM: DreamWorks has had a major success rate when it comes to taking adaptations of their movies and turning them into television series. You look at “Penguins of Madagascar” and “Kung Fu Panda” and “Trolls” and “Dragon” and “Croods” and “Abominable”… and now we have “Megamind”. What does that say to you, and after your experience working on this “Megamind” movie and show, about the power of these characters and their transition to a television format?

EF: It’s not an easy thing to make that jump. I think that for “Megamind”, having Alan and Brent as part of the team — head writers and, and exec producers — that was crucial for me. Knowing that they were coming back is one of the major draws for me to be part of this thing — knowing that we had that connective tissue and that continuity and that those guys had Megamind’s back, essentially, and knew exactly what that character sounds like and what his world feels like. That allowed me to sleep at night — knowing that those guys were here and had my back and I could sort of handle everything else.