SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Dimension 20: On a Bus” Season 2, now streaming on Dropout.
Comedy streaming service Dropout committed to the bit hard this April Fools’ Day with the launch of a “second season” of “Dimension 20: On a Bus.”
Released in a surprise drop Wednesday, the one-episode Season 2 serves as the follow-up to a viral short video released last year alongside an episode of Dropout’s “Game Changer,” which featured a pitch for a season of “Dimension 20” with “Dragon Master” Katie Marovitch leading players (and “D&D” experts) Jasmine Bhullar (Little Army Man), Aabria Iyengar (Blue M&M), Matthew Mercer (Lint) and Brennan Lee Mulligan (Hat) as they embark on a journey on a bus going from North Hollywood to Los Angeles’ LAX airport.
Tabletop RPG newcomer Marovitch says she, “Dimension 20” creator and star Mulligan and Dropout CEO and “Game Changer” host Sam Reich did not expect the video to draw more than 6 million views. But once it did, conversations quickly began about doing a full-length episode of “On a Bus.”
“It was pretty early on we were talking about it, shortly after the original two-minute-and-30-second-long Season 1 premiered,” Marovitch told Variety. “We didn’t know it was going to be such a big thing. It’s been very exciting, seeing everyone at conventions dressed as me in my outfits. I don’t think we were anticipating that. So it sort of made sense to do another thing pretty soon after it actually premiered.”
Though not originally planned as an ongoing series, “Dimension 20: On a Bus” shot its second season in January with its original cast and their characters (with the exception of Iyengar’s original Blue M&M, “because Aabria kept eating Blue M&M,” Marovitch) resuming gameplay under Marovitch’s rules.
What began as a joke (and is now the highest-rated episode of “Dimension 20” on IMDb) remains a joke throughout most of Season 2, but Marovitch says she wanted to pay homage to the art of “D&D” while DM-ing for the group of hardcore players.
“There’s a fine line between making fun of something and then honoring it, because I actually, obviously respect [this],” Marovitch said. “They’re all incredible, and they’re so much better at this than I could ever be. So I definitely don’t want to offend anyone while I’m doing it, I just want it to be fun.”
Marovitch “cannot stress how little” she knew about “D&D” going into the original “Dimension 20: On a Bus,” but says she put a lot of effort into Season 2 plans.
“I actually did prepare a lot. I put a lot of time into thinking of the bits and like, oh, is this crossing a line? Is this going to be offensive to Brennan and the other people at the table, or is this something that’s just fun for everyone?” Marovitch said. “Also, I’m very Type A, so for me, not reading about ‘D&D’ and knowing everything about it before going in was really hard for me. But Brennan, when I talked to him beforehand, he was kind of like, the less you know about it, truthfully, is the better. Like, it’s funnier to have you going in as just an idiot. But my impulse is definitely like, oh, I should prepare in order to actually know what I’m supposed to be doing, and then sort of subvert that. But no this time, we really were like, prepare your bits. And I did prepare my bits a lot, but I really tried hard not to go further than that.”
Read more from Variety‘s interview with “Dimension 20: On a Bus” star Marovitch about Season 2 and plans for additional episodes below.
At what point in prep for “Dimension 20: On a Bus” Season 2 did you decide additional kinds of die might be helpful here? Or that you should include more than one rule in the game mechanics?
The first season, the two-minute-and-30-second-long season, I went in knowing, literally, I had no idea what I was going to say for the die system. And the six, the “perfect six,” just came to me, and then we went with that. But for this one, since it was obviously a much longer season, I thought maybe that wouldn’t be quite enough. So you will notice that there is a different system this time. It’s far more complicated. A TI-83 is involved. It might be hard for the viewers to follow it. Maybe I’m going to write something up, some sort of instruction manual, maybe my own book. I just want people to know that there’s other systems that can be used, besides the perfect six.
At the end of Season 1, had you left yourself room for where you would want go to plotwise if the story continued beyond just that bit?
Not at all. I cannot stress how little I knew going in for Season 1. Truly, I had no idea what I was going to say. The only thing that I came in with was that there was going to be a bus. And then for Season 2, obviously, I put a lot of time into the pitch, genuinely. Through talking to Brennan, he was really like, no, try not to think too much about the plot, because that actually makes it harder. If the DM knows exactly what they want to do, and then obviously you’re working with other players, it’s all dependent on what they say. So for me, Season 1, I cannot stress enough how little thought went into it. I had to rewatch the season multiple times. I was like, what did I even say? I have no idea what I did.
This was shot in January. How long did it take to film?
It was one day, and it actually started late, and some people were already on set in the morning. So it was a long day that started sort of late, and it was nice. I got to bring my baby to set and it’s fun being a new parent and trying to work in pumping and breastfeeding and all that. But it was a blast.
You use a lot of props from previous seasons of “Dimension 20” in this episode. Did Brennan give you full access to the prop room, or suggest certain pieces to use?
The team behind this was truly incredible. Obviously, I know nothing about “D&D,” but they really helped pull together all the props from various seasons that they thought could work. And it was really a collaboration for the bits, where people who knew a lot more than I did would bring something up. Like the Critical Role Vecna — which, obviously I would have no idea, I would not be able to come up with that bit, because I’ve never seen it. So that was definitely someone else coming up with that. It was really a collaboration. And definitely the best bits are from other people who are way more knowledgeable than I am.
During the episode, you disclose that you were approached by Critical Role to take over as a “replacement” for an unnamed person on that show. Are those talks still ongoing?
I like to believe they’re ongoing. And yeah, I’m kind of choosing to believe that that will happen. Whether or not that was true, remains to be seen. But for me, I’m choosing to believe that those talks are ongoing.
You also told Brennan that you were given a much larger budget than the average season of “Dimension 20” gets from Dropout. How much more would you say?
I think they said I got, like, triple the budget? And obviously, I mean, you saw it — yes, we used it. We used the money. The Cheeto budget alone, I think I had $5,000. And we did go through it all, obviously.
These new additions — the “Mr. Questions” badge, the Cheetos-filled dice tray — do you see these being incorporated into standard gameplay on Brennan’s future seasons of “Dimension 20”?
I like to believe that they will be sort of not just for “D20,” I like to believe that they’re going to be sort of just what everyone does across all of “D&D” in general. I like to believe that’s just going to be a part of gameplay from now on. And that’s sort of the reality I’m choosing to live in.
At the end of the episode, you quote one of Brennan’s iconic lengthy monologues from “Dimension 20: A Crown of Candy.” Why did you pick that particular speech for this moment in “On a Bus”?
It was so weird, because I didn’t even know that that was from that. Like, I just started sort of talking from the heart and then the people behind the scenes shot me over that thing, and I was like, oh, my God. We’re, again, me and Brennan are so in sync. We come up with the exact same monologs, word for word, like, all the time, and it’s just another example of that. So, yeah, for me, no, I’d never seen it. And no, I certainly wasn’t stealing it. It was independent, yeah, for sure.
Was this a one-time expansion of the bit or will there be more? Is there a “Dimension 20: On a Bus” Season 3 in the works?
Yeah, I plan on annoying Sam and Brennan enough where they sort of do whatever they can possibly do to shut me up. So I can promise you, we’re doing a Season 3. Although [the Dropout PR monitoring this interview] is going to say, “No, Katie has no right to promise things like that. Please don’t put that in the article. Katie has no authority.” But I’m telling you, Jenny, I promise there’s going to be a Season 3, there’s going to be Season 4, there’s going to be a Season 5.
All on a bus? Or are you thinking that “Dimension 20: On a Bus” could then be a franchise itself with further spinoffs?
I love that question. I’m seeing “Dimension 20: In an Uber.” Not to blow your mind, but I could see it in a Waymo. We’re in 2026, here. We got to start thinking big. I could definitely see it in a spaceship. You know, let’s go to space. I think there’s so much. It’s such a rich world and I’m so ready to just keep exploring. “Dimension 20: On a Bus” Season 10 might be in space, for sure, or underwater, haven’t decided.
Well, in Season 2 you already go on a plane, so it’s accelerating quickly. While shooting the episode, did you pre-plan to have each of the cast members come into the DM chair to take over at different points or did that just happen?
No, I had no idea I was gonna be doing that. I did it with Matt, just as a bit. That was my first one. And then I thought, well, hold on, this is a way for the story to actually advance much better than how I could do it, so maybe this is a good idea and I should keep doing it. I don’t think all of their turns, like the full length, obviously, didn’t make it in. But truly, the best parts of the episode are when I’m not in the driver’s seat.
Did you take what they said and learn from it and use it throughout the rest?
Yes. And actually, I think you can see on my face when I had sort of a light bulb moment every time where they said something so much smarter than anything that I could ever have come up with. And I thought, oh, yeah, we have to do that. We have to keep pursuing whatever that was. You can see, truly, whenever I’m not in the chair, I’m just like a little kid, just like giddy with excitement that someone else is saying something far smarter than what I could say.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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