Twisted Metal Interview: How Dark and Scary Is the Show’s Sweet Tooth?

Editor’s note: this interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, which was called on July 13.

IGN sat down with Twisted Metal’s Samoa Joe and Will Arnett about how the two are bringing Sweet Tooth to life in the upcoming Peacock series together, how much we will see his iconic ice cream truck, what it was like filming that “Thong Song” scene, and much more.

Twisted Metal launches on Peacock on July 27, 2023. Samoa Joe will appear on screen as Sweet Tooth while Will Arnett will voice the legendary character who first appeared in 1995 in the PlayStation game of the same name.

While the pair weren’t going to reveal everything we’ll learn about the sick and twisted (pun intended) Sweet Tooth, Arnett did share they are taking his video game history to heart and don’t want to disappoint the fans who have been on this wild ride of a franchise for nearly 30 years.

“If we’re going to do this and I’m going to do this character, we can’t mess it up,” Arnett said. “We’ve got to do as good a job as ever. And so we have to get things like the backstory right. It all has to add up and we have to enrich it. We can’t just do it. You can’t just do a cover song. You have got to make it hopefully better. Take those elements from the game and blow out the world, blow out all that stuff. And I think we did.”

“You can’t just do a cover song. You have got to make it hopefully better. Take those elements from the game and blow out the world, blow out all that stuff. And I think we did.”

Samoa Joe shared he’s been a huge fan of Sweet Tooth and Twisted Metal for a long time, confirming he’s even played through all the games, earned all the endings, and has seen everything the character has done. He also took the time to tease we’ll learn about how Needles Kane became this iteration of the terrifying clown and that we’ll “get to see a lot of the darkness that is Sweet Tooth.”

“I think this Sweet Tooth kind of hearkens across a lot of those particular different Sweet Tooths,” Samoa Joe said. “He’s not probably as obsessive as he was in, maybe, Black. But definitely, as you get to learn more about him and you see the genesis of where Sweet Tooth came from throughout the series, I think you’ll begin to understand him as a character definitely a lot more.”

Samoa Joe collaborated with Arnett to make a character that feels like it was played by one person. He studied Arnett’s work so that his mannerisms could match Arnett’s cadence.

“A lot of it was Will providing me an idea of what he was looking for with the character and then me really studying a lot of his past work from Lego Batman, BoJack Horseman, and just really understanding his inflection and how times things verbally, especially his punchlines and stuff,” Samoa Joe said. “It made it easier for me because it took the heavy lifting as far as what the verbiage was involved with and allowed me to really concentrate on the physical performance. So yeah, man, it was a fun process, and it was really collaborative, and it was helpful for what he did give me.”

The pair then addressed that Twisted Metal clip where Sweet Tooth gave Anthony Mackie’s John Doe a viscious beating before they both pause and sing along to Sisqó’s “Thong Song.” This, according to Samoa Joe and Arnett, perfectly encapsulates who Sweet Tooth is.

“Don’t forget. He’s insane,” Arnett said as to why this scene makes sense and is a fitting addition. “And it’s just such a narrow, weird target because he’s a villain and he’s a bad guy and he’s scary and he menacing and all that stuff but he’s also got to be funny.”

Samoa Joe then added that it was hard for him to keep a straight face during the filming of the scene, but it was all good because the mask allowed him to laugh without anyone knowing. Well, except for those who look a little closer.

“It was easy to keep a straight face because I didn’t have to,” Samoa Joe said as he laughed. “Like I said, that mask is all enclosing. So as hilarity did ensue, sometimes you might even be able to see the mask shaking a little bit from some chuckles here and there.”

Lastly, Samoa Joe eased the worries of fans who need for there to be a lot of Sweet Tooth’s iconic ice tream truck.

“Oh, a lot, thankfully,” Samoa Joe said when asked if we’ll see the truck. “I remember first day on set, they’re like, ‘Hey, you want to drive that thing off that ramp, and we’re going to blow through that billboard?’ I said, ‘And I’m in there?’ They’re like, ‘Yep. You down?’ I said, ‘I’m down. Let’s go.’ We definitely did a lot of car combat and I’m excited for people to get to see that.”

As a reminder, Twisted Metal will drive onto Peacock on July 27, 2023. For more, check out how the series carries a topical political message, the latest trailer for the series, and our look at why the Twisted Metal games deserve a good TV show.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.