From the Devil in ‘Lucifer’ to Godcat in ‘Exploding Kittens,’ Tom Ellis is Keeping It Biblical (2024)

[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Exploding Kittens.]

Based on the best-selling card game, the Netflix animated series Exploding Kittens shows what happens when God (voiced by Tom Ellis) gets fired and sent to Earth in the form of a chubby house cat, only to learn he can’t escape his arch nemesis, the Devil (voiced by Sasheer Zamata). Part of his temporary banishment is to reconnect with humanity, so Godcat moves in with a dysfunctional family convinced that solving their problems will get him back where he belongs. Only he keeps getting distracted by his own cat behavior and the time he’s spending with Devilcat, which leads to an unexpected finale surprise.

There’s something quite amusing about Ellis, who played the Lord of Hell for six seasons in the TV series Lucifer, now voicing God, even if he is in the body of an animated cat. Stories of good vs. evil have endured for centuries, and humans love their cats so much that they let them get away with just about anything. The combination of those two things wrapped into nine episodes is a blend of quirky and silly that the cast is fully on board with.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Ellis talked about the evolution of going from playing the Devil in Lucifer to playing God in Exploding Kittens, where he turned for inspiration for his God voice, how he found the absolutely bonkers experience of recording a voice performance for an entire season, who told him about the popularity of the card game the series is based on, what he most enjoyed about this particular relationship between God and the Devil, and what he thought of his animated character. He also discussed whether he still thinks about his Lucifer character that he played for nearly 100 episodes, joining Season 2 of Tell Me Lies, which was created by Ellis’ wife Meaghan Oppenheimer, and reteaming with her for Second Wife.

Exploding Kittens

TV-14

Animation

Comedy

An epic cosmic battle unfolds when God and the Devil are sent to Earth in the bodies of chubby house cats. Struggling to adapt to their new feline forms, they must navigate their ancient rivalry amidst the absurdities of human life.

Release Date

July 12, 2024

Cast

Suzy Nakamura , Kenny Yates , David Gborie , Tom Ellis , Ally Maki , Mark Proksch , Sasheer Zamata

Seasons

1

See Also

Ben's Biz: Dancing like a chicken in MemphisHello Kitty turns 50 — but did you know she’s not a cat? Plus more fun facts

Streaming Service(s)

Netflix

Showrunner

Shane Kosakowski , Matthew Inman

After Playing the Devil in ‘Lucifer,’ Tom Ellis Is Voicing God

Collider: This is such a wild and fun show. Did it cross your mind at all that you went from playing the Devil on Lucifer to playing God, who gets sent from the heavens to Earth in the form of a talking cat? How is that even a thing that actually happens?

TOM ELLIS: It just feels like a very natural evolution to me. No. Of course, when this job came around, I was like, “Well, I’ve just played the Devil. Do you think people will think it strange that I’m playing God?” But they sent me some of the artwork and we talked about the show, and I just thought it was a great opportunity to have some fun. I didn’t intend on most of my career being biblical, but that’s just the way it’s fallen.

Does having played the Devil give you a different perspective on voicing God, in any way?

ELLIS: Both of these jobs, I was thinking about broad sweeps of, how do people identify the Devil? How do people identify God? It’s done within humorous worlds as well, so I could really go for it. No, playing the Devil didn’t really particularly set me up for playing God, but my life in real life and being the son of a pastor and growing up in the church probably did.

You’ve done episodes of other animated series, but with this show, you have a full season to tell a story and develop a character. What is that experience like when you’re voicing a character that you’re not physically inhabiting? How different is that experience for you? What did you enjoy most about it, and what did you find most challenging about it?

ELLIS: The thing that I find the most challenging about it is the thing that I ended up finding most enjoyable about it, strangely. When you do an animation, you don’t do the scenes with the other people in the scene. You come in, you do your lines, you do them various different ways, and then you leave it to the magic and you come back two years later to see what’s happened and how picture has been put to it. And so, it was a lonely experience initially, going into a booth and doing the lines. But actually, the more that I did that, the more liberated I felt. I just found myself going a bit bonkers in there. You’re encouraged to let your imagination run free and just take off all the shackles and go for it. I found that a lot of fun, actually. I wish I’d filmed myself in the booth for some content because that was probably quite amusing. It was a different experience, but a fun one.

Does it ever get particularly weird when you’re trying things or doing different jokes and there’s nobody to work off of?

ELLIS: The showrunners, Shane [Kosakowski] and Matt [Inman], were constantly with me in those sessions, so I got a good barometer of how it was landing with their reactions. It is strange to wonder if it’s going to be funny, but doing it several different ways, you’re covering all bases. I would laugh at the scripts anyway because they wrote some really fun lines in there. It was just an opportunity to try different deliveries.

Why do you think it is that we seem to always be so interested in these stories of God versus the Devil? It’s something that’s endured for so long that here we are with this animated version where they both become talking cats.

ELLIS: Humans are fascinated with things they don’t know, and they’ve always tried to characterize these things, over centuries and centuries. These are the oldest supernatural, in the loosest sense of the term, characters that humans have developed, over the years. God and the Devil are the manifestation of good and evil. I think people will always be fascinated by that and by, what are we actually doing here? It's the existential question of humanity. We found it with Lucifer, as well. People are fascinated by the character of the Devil, and also by God. So, I think it’s always going to be thematically something that people go back to.

Tom Ellis Took Inspiration for His 'Exploding Kittens' God Voice From Actor Charles Dance

You sound like you in this, which is not always the case with voice work. Was there anything you wanted to do different with your voice? Were there things you tried that didn’t work? How did you figure out how God would sound?

ELLIS: I definitely wanted to have some sort of feeling of authority and a bombastic approach to God. Especially in this story, we’re talking about how God has somewhat taken his eye off the ball and just gotten a bit lazy and a bit into himself, so I had that as a starting point. And then, I had just worked with an actor called Charles Dance, who is a very famous actor from the UK and a very intimidating character in real life, but also a big teddy bear with an incredible voice that’s got a lot of authority to it, and I found myself, during that job, impersonating him without being mean or anything. I just found him fascinating. And then, Exploding Kittens called and I was like, “Oh, if I voice God, I think he’s gonna sound a bit like Charles.” That’s where the inspiration came from. He is God on Earth, for sure.

Out of context, if someone were to just read these scripts and not know exactly what the show was, or even that it was animated, it would probably seem crazy.

ELLIS: Absolutely bonkers.

Some of the dialogue and the conversations in this are wild. What was the craziest recording day for you? Were there any days that just seemed particularly bizarre because of whatever you had to do or say?

ELLIS: All the recording days were pretty bonkers. There were scenes with the family, which felt like regular scenes. And then, there were scenes where you go on some kind of psychedelic, trippy journey. They do this thing, when you’re recording, called walla, which is at the end of your recording session. You’ve done all your lines, but then they need sounds and utterances. They’ll say things like, “Now make the sound of you falling off a roof and landing hard,” and stuff like that. It’s a really weird, on the spot, improvisational moment. You just find yourself making all these strange noises. That’s when I thought, ‘If someone was filming me right now, they’d probably take me somewhere with padded walls and lock me up.”

Tom Ellis' Kids Are Big Fans of the 'Exploding Kittens' Card Game

I had no idea this was based on a card game. Was that something that you were aware of? Did you look at that, at all?

ELLIS: I was aware of it because I was told that when it was first put in my direction. I didn’t know about the card game, but then I talked to my kids and was like, “I’ve been offered this thing, Exploding Kittens, based on a card game. Have you heard of it?” And they were like, “Are you joking? Dad, it’s huge.” I found out, subsequently, that it was based on this card game and apparently the card game is incredibly popular. I hope anyone who’s played the game will tune in and watch the show.

Did that make you nervous, knowing your kids are actually aware of this?

ELLIS: Absolutely. Although it is quite nice to do something that I know they will probably enjoy, as opposed to other things where I’m naked.

What did you most enjoy about the relationship between God and the Devil in this? It’s a version of that relationship that we’re not used to seeing.

ELLIS: The concept of two people who are meant to hate each other, but actually secretly love each other, I thought was a really quite fun take on it. God’s having to constantly remind himself that he doesn’t like the Devil because he finds them quite alluring. I just thought it was a really fun take that secretly these two people are actually really good mates.

What’s it like to work with showrunners and directors on an animated series? How different is that collaboration?

ELLIS: It’s very immediate because you’re literally just there and you’re doing the lines and they’re on a monitor and giving you instant feedback about it. Just having them there was great because it was a barometer as to whether these things were landing or not. The showrunners on this really loved the show and really found it funny. Other people coming in and having that same experience was gratifying for them, as well. It was like controlled fun. That’s what it felt like.

What did you think of your animated character? What’s it like, the first time you see what the character looks like?

ELLIS: That’s quite trippy. Normally, in live-action stuff, you’re very aware of, physically, how you look and how you come across. But when you just voice something, and then someone puts something else to it, it’s a very different experience. I love the way this has been animated and I love the Godcat animation. Seeing all the little physical beats of comedy, which, of course, I wasn’t aware of when I was doing the voice, made me laugh. The little catcentricities were really fun to watch.

After Nearly 100 Episodes in the Role, Lucifer Morningstar Still Lives in Tom Ellis

When you play a character for nearly 100 episodes, like you did with Lucifer, do you ever find yourself thinking about him? You’re done shooting the series, but he was part of your life for so long, so do you ever think about him, or any of the characters that you’ve played?

ELLIS: Definitely with Lucifer, because I lived with him for such a long time. During the time that we were doing it, I probably spent more time as Lucifer than I did as Tom, so it was a strange experience. He still lives in me, for sure. I do think about him fondly, from time to time, and occasionally his voice will come out. It’s definitely stored in my library forever.

You’ve also joined your wife’s series, Tell Me Lies, for the second season. First of all, why weren’t you in the first season?

ELLIS: I was busy. I was doing something else.

Had there been talk of you during the first season, or was it more that this was a character better suited to you?

ELLIS: The first season was a loose adaptation of the novel. Meaghan [Oppenheimer] had taken that as a starting point, and there was enough story there to be telling for the first season. But a show goes onto a second season, and now you’re really creating a story that wasn’t in the original novel. As you’re expanding that world, you think about what you can bring into it. Meaghan wanted to explore different versions of relationships, and there was an opportunity in Season 2 to bring in a character that would do that. When she was talking about it, she asked me if I would be interested in joining it. And I was like, “I’d love to do it.” I think the show is brilliant, and it’s very different to other things that I’ve done. I’ve just watched Season 2, and it is really good. Weirdly, I’m sitting here talking about playing God and playing the Devil, but I can tell you categorically it's the darkest character I’ve played, the character in Tell Me Lies.

What was it like to work with her and do a series with her as your showrunner?

ELLIS: We’ve actually worked together before. I did a bit on her show, Queen America, a few years ago. Not everyone says this, but I love working with my wife. She is incredibly talented. She’s brilliant at what she does. We’re really able to separate church and state, in a way that people might not be able to get their head around. We have a huge respect for each other, professionally, and then, of course, huge adoration for each other, personally. The acting notes she gives, for example, are brilliant. Meaghan used to be an actor. She’s done theatre directing. She knows how to communicate with actors. She’s just a joy to work with. The fact that she’s my wife is just an added bonus.

Tom Ellis Wanted to Make an Impact by Joining Season 2 of 'Tell Me Lies'

You were in Lucifer from the beginning. You did Exploding Kittens from the beginning. Is there a difference between doing that and joining a show in the second season where you’re coming in and everybody already knows each other?

ELLIS: Starting a show from scratch and being there at the very start of it is a wonderful experience because you get to really create and be a part of creating that world in the bigger picture. I’ve had the lovely experience of that a few times. But of course, that’s always a double-edged sword because you’re like, “I’m enjoying doing this. I just really hope that we find an audience.” Ultimately, that’s why we do this, in the first place. There’s always that moment of, “Where will this land with people? Will people watch this? Will people get something out of it?” Whereas joining Tell Me Lies Season 2, I’m already aware that this show landed and people were talking about it and there’s a real buzz about it. For me, that was an attractive prospect. I look at shows that I’ve loved in the past and characters that have joined after it started, and it’s an opportunity to make an impact in something that’s already made an impact. You know that there’s an audience there and you’re coming into it, which is slightly nerve-wracking, but you that there will be people watching it, at the end of this. They’re two very different experiences, and I’m lucky to have been able to have both.

You’re teaming up with your wife again for Second Wife, which clearly means something is going right in that collaboration. That series is billed as a dark comedy. What can you say about that story, your character there, and the tone of that show?

ELLIS: Second Wife is basically something where we wanted to do a piece that reflected experiences that we’d had in our lives and not experiences that were unique to us. Things that feel like they’re unique when you’re experiencing them, but then you come out of that and realize that lots of people experience these things. So, we wanted to delve into the world of divorce and second families and stepparents, and alongside that, bring in aspects of things that Meaghan is interested in telling story wise, like people’s mental health and stuff like that. It’s funny, but like anything that Meaghan does, it does have this dark undertone to it. Meaghan has talked about this many times in the past, but she suffers from depression, as do many, many people, and people that suffer from depression often find humor in the darkest moments. She’s found a way to translate that into scripts. So, that’s the world Second Wife will live in.

Early on in your career, when you were thinking about the kinds of roles you wanted to play or the types of projects you wanted to do, what was that dream? What did you think you wanted for yourself, as an actor, and do you feel like you got to play that role you had in mind?

ELLIS: Actors are never happy. We’re never content. A lot of actors will say the best part of acting is getting the job. There are stages to it. When I wanted to be an actor and was auditioning for drama school, there was a whole world of people saying, “Well, that’s a really tough industry. Good luck auditioning because many, many people do, and hardly any people get in.” That’s what you’re faced with, to start with. Thankfully, I got a place at drama school. And then, after that, it becomes, “If you wanna do this in the industry, it’s really, really tough. It’s really, really competitive. Maybe think about having something else on the side, just in case it doesn’t work out.” There’s this negative, glass half full element to it. Within that world, I just found myself thinking, “If I can make a living and just pay my rent as an actor, I feel like I’ve really achieved something.” That was my ambition, coming out of drama school. It was just to work. And then, of course, things happen and you start to work, and then your ambitions start to grow. There are many, many things that I wanted to do in my career, some of them I’ve done and some of them I haven’t done yet. I realized a few years ago that it’s about the journey and it’s not about the destination. I now approach any job that I do with, “I’m gonna put everything into this and I’m gonna have as much fun as possible doing it, and we’ll see what happens.”

What do you think that version of you that was starting out as an actor would think of the career you’ve had now, with the characters you’ve played and the projects that you’ve done?

ELLIS: I’d be delighted, I’m not gonna lie. If you’d told the 18-year-old me going to drama school that I’d be sitting here talking to you, 25 years into my career, having done the things that I’d done, I’d be like, “Really, okay.” It’s all right to believe. Something that I’ve always felt, from the moment that I decided I wanted to be an actor, is that it would be all right. I don’t know where that sense of comfort came from, but I just felt that everything would be okay. And thus far, it’s been all right.

That version of you probably never would have believed that you’d play both God and the Devil.

ELLIS: Not at all.

Exploding Kittens is available to stream on Netflix.

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