Brian Munene on Subterranea, which "started as a space odyssey"

Subterranea’s creator and head writer Brian Munene has always wanted to make a Kenyan sci-fi series, a Star Wars or a Star Trek kind of project. It began with a crazy idea: what if eight Kenyans were stuck in space? For a very long time, this idea stayed with him, and it had many iterations too, from Maasais in space to a new Kenya in a different world, recolonised and relocated by some mad dictator. It was also a faraway dream that Munene never thought possible - at least, not in the scale he wanted to tell it, until sometime in 2023 while deep in post-production for Kibanda Picture’s new movie The Caller.

“It came to me when I was meditating. I kept hearing a voice in my head, from one of my good friends, Sam Soko, who’s also a filmmaker. He has this saying that if something doesn’t work, flip it. How do you flip a space odyssey? What if my story was set underground instead? And that is how Subterranea was born: eight Kenyans stuck in an underground bunker instead of a spaceship,” Munene reveals.

Munene also co-produces the Showmax Original series, alongside series director Likarion Wainaina, known for Kenya’s most successful film Supa Modo.

In the interview with Showmax below, Munene shares more on the process of creating Kenya’s first-ever sci-fi series and what it means for him and other filmmakers in Kenya.

This is such a monumental project. How does it feel to be the creator of Kenya’s first sci-fi series?

It’s a very scary feeling to be a pioneer of such a project. Being a first, we don’t know the kind of reception Subterranea will get but I promise that this is an amazing story and we have an amazing cast, set and crew. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this project and everything came together so well. For that, I couldn’t be prouder. Making it was a bold move, and Showmax took a big gamble on a genre that has not been tested in this region, a genre that’s usually very hard to execute. I am hoping it pays off.

What kind of research did you do to immerse yourself in the world of Subterranea and nail the story?

We looked at research on two fronts. There was research on the emotional toll being stuck in a bunker takes on people and how they react. How it sort of warps their reality and changes everything that they interact with and how that changes them. There was also research on the possibility of the entire concept of the show. How plausible was the idea that a global corporation could build doomsday bunkers in Kenya? We found out that there are actual survival bunkers being built across Africa. With the Covid-19 pandemic and the ever-looming World War 3 pressure, people are constantly looking for a backup plan should there be a resurgence of a world-ending phenomenon. This was the realism that we needed to justify the world of Subterranea.

How was the whole process of fleshing out Subterranea and developing it to a fully formed project?

I’d say it was a crazy process. I was thrown in the deep end because Likarion, the show’s director, sent the pitch deck to Showmax before it was complete. I was caught by surprise because the concept was still in its infancy, it was still just a shell of the kind of story I wanted to tell. At this stage, I knew who the characters were and what their situation was but I still hadn’t figured out where the story would take us. The moment we got the call from Showmax inviting us for an official pitch, I panicked because we were not ready. Luckily for us, we quickly assembled an amazing development team of eight brilliant minds who came together to bring the story to life.

Just looking at the first episode, how many drafts did you have to write before you were satisfied with the story?

Episode 1 had 18 drafts before we began filming. Arnold Mwanjila, who’s a brilliant writer, wrote the first eight drafts, and then Likarion and I had to work on the other drafts. I usually have this rule that if I'm the show's creator, I don’t write the pilot episode because in my mind, I have already answered a lot of the questions so it’s usually easier when someone else writes it. I think episode 2 had around 20 drafts. We started so well in episode 1 that episode 2 needed to match the energy of episode 1. Episode 2 has three writers and when you watch it, you’ll understand why it had so many drafts.

Which character did you enjoy writing and developing the most?

Definitely Green, played by newcomer Chintu Chudasama, who was such a challenge to write. Usually, I write based on people I know but with Green, I didn’t have an archetype or a reference in my life that I could borrow from. This challenge made writing him more purposeful and more engaging. Green was an enigma inside and outside, especially since we often don’t explore stories about the Kenyan Indian community. We sometimes tend to see them as this one community where everyone is living happy, rich lives. Researching and diving into who Green is, a young Indian man who, by all definitions, is just a broken man but what people see on the outside is his race, was an interesting journey for me. To be honest, I jumped on all episodes that were heavy on Green. Writing him, understanding who he is, what makes him tick, and even the climax of his story was just amazing.

You were also involved in the process of building the set. How was that experience for you? And was it the world you had envisioned for Subterranea after you saw the end product?

Finding the perfect location where we could build the bunker was a very long and painful process. Looking at the intricacy of the story, this was a set that needed to be built from scratch. And that’s exactly what we did. I was privileged as a writer to be part of the process, because a lot of times you write the scripts and the producers decide what to do with the story. The first time I visited the set after it was completed, I think I cried. You dream of something but you never really understand the magnitude of your dreams until you see them come to life.