Mike Myers and Tim Kirkby's new Netflix comedy The Pentaverate premieres May 5 on the streaming platform. It has subtle ties to the Austin Power star's previous movie So I Married An Axe Murderer which featured a throwaway joke about a secret society called The Pentaverate - a group composed of five of the wealthiest elites in the world. This series brings that joke to life, following a Canadian journalist set to expose the secret society which has influenced world events since the Black Plague.

Myers leaves his mark on this 6-episode comedy, stepping into the role of creator, co-writer, and actor. The Emmy winner star plays eight new characters including the curious journalist, a conspiracy theorist, and the five secret world leaders. In this conversation with Game Rant, Mike Myers and The Pentaverate director Kirkby (Veep, Fleabag) talk about their inspirations for the series, what fans should expect, and the creative risks they took to create this ambitious project.

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Game Rant: Mike, I am sure you have been answering this question all day - what sparked your interest to create this series?

Mike Myers: I have been obsessed with secret societies my whole life. It is unfalsifiable. You can not prove that they do not exist. And the unfalsifiableness of it is what makes it so fun. I would say about 25 years ago, secret societies were being talked about a lot, then it went away. In the last five years, they have come to the forefront and I wanted to talk about it in the best possible way - which is in a silly way. Both of us, Tim [Kirkby] and I, worshiped Dr. Strangelove. During the Cold War, there were two movies about it. One was called Failsafe which is a really good melodrama, and there is Dr. Strangelove, which is a farce. It is a silly movie. To me, that is the best delivery system to talk about something serious and Tim was the logical choice. I hunted him down for three years like an animal until he said yes.

production still of The Pentaverate

Tim Kirkby: I was working at the Kubrick Museum at the time and obviously Kubrick is a huge influence to every director. So, it is really important to have flavors of Kubrick, of course, but then also to introduce other influences as well. This series is a beautiful mash-up of a lot of ideas that we both shared. Hopefully, if we have got it right, it is a cocktail of that, but very much a Mike Myers project. You should be able to feel the Mike Myers-ness all the way through.

GR: What should fans expect from this collaboration?

Myers: There is a ton of Tim Kirkby in the show, as I knew there would be. We are both culture vultures. We both love science fiction. It is a “snake eating its own tail” concoction. But what I wanted it to be is an English-style limited series. I also wanted to have somebody who was not afraid to break rules, but not the golden rule, which is to be an entertainer.

GR: Tim, what was the biggest creative risk you took as a director?

Kirkby: It was getting the connection and the relationships of the five Pentaverate members right. I meticulously planned every single shot and every lens, and it was still tricky on the day. It took a lot of time. Another challenge was getting the world right. We had countless conversations about every minute detail.

I did not want it to feel Marvel, I did not want it to feel like a modern, futuristic society. I wanted people to love the aesthetic. I had this idea that it was built in the 60s and 70s, so that is why it has this slightly retro feel. I wanted things to be a bit rusty, but we did not lean into that too much, because that is too much.

The Pentaverate is streaming on Netflix.

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