Josh Hutcherson Brings Us Inside His New Seth Rogen Hulu Series ‘Future Man’

You have to wonder if Josh Hutcherson ever gets tired of saving the world. First, he played a part in doing so as Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games film series, and now he’s doing so with considerably less blood and death on the Hulu comedy sci-fi show, Future Man.

Produced by Seth Rogen, the show (the first season of which consists of 13 episodes) sees Josh cast as Josh Futturman, a janitor by day/world-ranked gamer by night who is tasked with preventing the extinction of humanity after mysterious visitors from the future proclaim him the key to defeating the imminent super-race invasion. The game, it seems, was actually a means of testing those worthy enough to become the “Savior” and, in turn, our only hope.

In the following interview, Josh shares his thoughts on the character, the wacky concept and the transition he’s making from feature films to his first TV series.

Life & Style: How did you come to be involved with this show?

Josh Hutcherson: They brought it to me. I had a small role in James Franco’s The Disaster Artist. I play the role of Denny, and Seth Rogen was in that film, too. We didn’t have a whole lot of scenes together, but a couple weeks afterwards I got an email, and they were making this show, and they were, like, “Love to pitch it to you and see if you want to do it.” They did and the pitch was insane and I was in.

Life & Style: But how was it making that transition from movies to TV, or did it feel more like a movie the way the episodes were filmed together?

Josh Hutcherson: It did. Since I haven’t done TV, I don’t know what TV feels like, but this just felt like a really hard movie. I mean, the scope and the scale of the show was insane, and the sequences and whatnot were very cinematic and massive, so it felt very much like a film.

(Photo Credit: Hulu)

Life & Style: Can you set up the character for the readers?

Josh Hutcherson: He’s a janitor by day at a sexual disease research center, and he’s also a very immersed video gamer by night. He’s playing this one game called “The Biotic Wars,” and it’s an unbeatable game that he finally beats one night. Then he finds out that game was actually a simulator sent from the future to find the chosen one to save all of humanity. Thus ensues the story of a run through time to try and save the world.

Life & Style: Do you play video games?

Josh Hutcherson: I don’t a whole lot. I play some occasionally. I lost internet at my house about two years ago and still haven’t gotten it to work yet.

Life & Style: Why?

Josh Hutcherson: Great question! Call Time Warner, because they’ve been to my house 15 times and can’t figure it out. So my online gaming has definitely taken a sharp decline now that I don’t have online capabilities.

(Photo Credit: Hulu)

Life & Style: So is your character more comedic or badass?

Josh Hutcherson: Definitely not a badass. He’s sort of like a bewildered fish out of water, you know? He’s always lived in this kind of fantasy world in his mind, and then the fantasy’s brought to reality and he doesn’t quite know how to handle it. He’s sort of the audience, in a way, and then the other people that come into the show kind of represent the madness that he’s going through. But he’s got some real funny stuff to deal with.

Life & Style: What’s the most outrageous thing that you’ve been able to do?

Josh Hutcherson: It’s hard to walk in heels. It’s even harder to run in them. Oh, and no possums were harmed in the making of the show. Put those two together and that’s Future Man.

Life & Style: What’s it been like to go from something like The Hunger Games to doing something a little more low-key?

Josh Hutcherson: This was very far from low key, and scale-wise there were moments where it felt bigger than some moments on Hunger Games. Obviously it’s not entirely true of the whole time, but the scale and scope of this show was massive. So for me it didn’t feel like a step into anything low key by any means.

Life & Style: Can you talk a little bit about what makes the comedy mixed with sci-fi unique for this show?

Josh Hutcherson: The important thing is that the roots of the show and almost every plot are not for a joke. It’s the reality of these people trying to save all of humanity. So because of that, the plot is very driven in a non-comedic fashion. It was kind of like taking that world that we know from classic ‘80s sci-fi like Back to the Future, The Last Starfighter and Quantum Leap. Then sprinkle some Seth Rogen on top and you get this. What I think is fun about it is it’s a way to access this genre that I think’s really unique. We’ve seen funny sci-fi stuff before, but this really balances life or death scenarios with the comedy that we’re creating.

(Photo Credit: Hulu)

Life & Style: The show involves a lot of time travel, which raises the question of when you would travel to if you could.

Josh Hutcherson: Oh, man. I love the sixties, but people think, “Oh, free love in the sixties and civil rights activism.” We’re a lot more free today than we were in the sixties, so it’s still like stepping backwards in that sense. I’d be curious to go maybe 20 years into the future and see how badly we’re doing. Or if a miracle has happened and we’ve somehow turned things around.

Life & Style: Maybe the whole world has melted.

Josh Hutcherson: That’s actually a fact. That will happen. Not even stoppable, but yes. #Optimism!

(Photo Credit: Hulu)

Life & Style: You were a producer on this as well…

Josh Hutcherson: More in terms of story points, plot, characters — things like that. I wasn’t like, making phone calls and setting up locations or anything cool, but it’s a super collaborative team and for me to be a big part of the show, and to not only lend myself in terms of my face, but also my creativity, was very satisfying. And it helps you just feel more secure in that environment when you know that you can kind of help steer the ship some.

Future Man is currently available for streaming on Hulu.