Donald Glover ’s show about celebrity and friendly relationship head into its third time of year after burn down every screen in lot by subverting expectations for what a TV series can be .
“ wiz ” gets toss around a quite a little , but Glover has craft a show that ’s trippy and grounded , yet silly and brutal . It ’s a show that defies a singular recording label and demands a seat at the VIP board . One of the adept of the in force .
Eat or be eaten , here are 10 facts about the Emmy - nominate serial .
1. DONALD GLOVER TRICKED FX INTO ORDERING THE SHOW.
The concept of Trojan Horse - ing your way onto television set is something a few creators ( including Jenji Kohan ofOrange is the New Black ) have talked about . Either selling the studio or your audience one familiar affair while enclose them to the real , groundbreaking taradiddle hiding inside it . According to Glover , Atlantafollowed in that grand tradition by recite FX the serial would be more of a traditional hang - out show than it is . “ I just Trojan Horsed it , ” GlovertoldVulture . “ I told FX the show was something it was n’t until we obtain there and then hoped it would be enjoyable . ”
2. THEY MADE A CHICKEN WING ORDER SO POPULAR, A CHAIN ADDED IT TO THEIR MENU.
If you do n’t hump Atlanta , this can get a little confusing : J.R. Cricketsis a substantial restaurant draw in the show , but the Lemon Pepper Wet chicken wing rescript that Paper Boi ( Brian Tyree Henry ) and Darius ( Lakeith Stanfield ) get was n’t on its menu in real life story until the show ’s depicting of it made a crowd of people rate it and J.R. Cricket ’s decide to place it on the fare . Which kinda kills the joke . Gloverbased iton an point on American Deli ’s menu , observe it funny that someone could cover Paper Boi to something at J.R. Cricket ’s that was n’t actually on the menu . This is what happens when you inject real eating house into your fancied show .
3. IT’SCURB YOUR ENTHUSIASMFOR RAPPERS.
Along with surrealism , the show craft in wry humor that would makeLarry Davidproud . Glover describesAtlantaas “ Curb Your Enthusiasmfor rappers . " " Being a knocker is topnotch awkward , ” GlovertoldStephen Colbert earlier this yr . " You ’re in a video and you engender , like , champagne and butts close to your side … and then you have go to Whole Foods and the someone is like , ' Hey , you ’re that dandy ! ' and you ’re like , ‘ Please I really want to buy this trash emollient . ' " remind the theme music and the deadpan stare .
4. SINCE HE’S A RAPPER IN REAL LIFE, GLOVER DIDN’T WANT TO PLAY ONE ON TV.
There are plenty of idiot box stars who resound their real career in the fictitious world . Jerry Seinfeld playing an increasingly successful comic , Lena Dunham play an more and more successful aspiring writer , and Adrian Grenier playing an increasingly successful Hollywood worker . Glover did n’t want to go that itinerary . “ That would have been wack to me,”Glover aver . “ I do n’t think people require to see a show of someone actually making it . ”
5. THE GLOVERS COMPARE THE SEASONS TO KANYE WEST ALBUMS.
" We ’ve kind of been equate the time of year to a soph phonograph recording from a newfangled creative person , " managing director Hiro MuraitoldRolling StonewhenAtlanta : Robbin ’ Seasoncame out . " Internally , we ’ve pull Kanye parallels : if the first season isCollege Dropout , this one isLate Registration . ” It ’s a thought from Donald and his blood brother , Stephen Glover , who is a writer and executive manufacturer on the show . So it ’s no surprisal that they view the forthcoming third season like Kanye’sGraduation . What does that stand for , exactly ? “ This is probably our most accessible but also the realest — an honorable version of it — and I feel like the most gratifying , ” Donald Gloverexplained .
6. BRIAN TYREE HENRY DIDN’T WANT TO STUDY OTHER RAPPERS TO CREATE HIS CHARACTER.
Donald and Stephen Glover write Paper Boi ’s raps , and Stephen performs them , but Brian Tyree Henry embodies Alfred and his rap image " Paper Boi . " Yet in craft the character , Henry did n’t go the established road . “ I wanted to be so far withdraw from [ studying other knocker ] because I think that every rapper , even their name calling are path that they need you to eff them , ” HenrytoldNPR . “ rapper make personas or name . I felt like it was a way of protection , you know what I mean ? So , I did n’t really want to study any rappers per se because I wanted to get to bang who [ Alfred ] really was and where he total from before I could even go to where he was move . Like , Paper Boi is where he ’s going . ”
7. THEY NEEDED A “WHITE TRANSLATOR” TO USE THE N-WORD ON THE SHOW.
FX initially tell Glover not to use the N - word in the pilot film , which would have been a dilution of lifelike speech . “ I ’m black , making a very black show , and they ’re severalize me I ca n’t use the N - word , " GlovertoldThe New Yorker . " Only in a world run by white citizenry would that happen . “To solve the trouble , the originative squad bring in white executive producer Paul Simms ( known as the “ White Translator ” to several black showrunners ) to make the showcase for why FX should allow the show to use the word . If you watch the show , you do it who won that argument .
8. ZAZIE BEETZ IS CAUTIOUS ABOUT HOW HER CHARACTER IS VIEWED.
As an actress , Zazie Beetz is in a parlous side playing Van , a adaptation of pitch-dark muliebrity not unremarkably seen on TV . Van is representative , but , of course , not wholly so . “ I retrieve it is important to see intelligent black woman who are also contend with their partners . You make out what I mean ? ” BeetztoldGQ . “ That ’s all part of this larger narrative of what ’s going on in the medium and in film and goggle box in generally . But her storyisn’teverybody ’s story . I do n’t need executive in studio to be like , ‘ Oh , we have to do more exactly like Van . ’ ”
9. THERE’S A NOD TO CHILDISH GAMBINO IN THE “JUNETEENTH” EPISODE.
When Glover ’s ( a.k.a . Childish Gambino ) third studio album , “ Awaken , My erotic love ! ” , drop on December 2 , 2016 , sharp - eyed internet denizens realized he ’d alreadyhiddenits record album art in an October 25 , 2016 episode ofAtlantawhere Glover ’s Earn and Beetz ’s Van go to a Juneteenth party . That ’s next level Easter egg .
10. MARIJUANA INSPIRES THE SHOW’S CHAOTIC STRUCTURE.
It ’s hardly surprising that marijuana is the muse for much of a show marked by freak out and disconnection . “ We do everything mellow , ” GlovertoldThe New Yorker . “ The effortless chaos ofAtlanta — the moment of enlightenment followed by an abrupt return to reality — is definitely shaped by grass . When sh*t is actually going on , no one knows what the f * * * is pass . ”
