Will Arnetthas no interest in hosting a reality show that depicts people at their worst.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve had various hosting gigs over the years, but never your own series.
Why did you feel like now is the right time?
Credit: Ray Mickshaw/FOX
I don’t know if I’d be very good at it, etc.
But it is true.
That has been a huge part of my life for the last 10 years.
Ray Mickshaw/FOX
And I guess it just kind of made sense in the way they presented it.
They were like, “Hey, look, you’ve been in three Lego movies.
You’ve been sort of a constant in the Legoverse.
And we know we’d love to have you be an ambassador in that way for the brand.”
It’s so organically a part of my life.
So it was just a weird fit.
When you first signed on, did you expect that the contestants would be as good as they are?
But to actually come up with the idea themselves and do it?
These challenges are insanely long, some of them more than 15 hours!
How does that work from a shooting perspective?
Certainly the builders do have to build for that amount of time.
There are breaks, of course we’re not monsters.
But it is a competition show.
So we are very mindful of the clock, and that is something that we take very seriously.
And as an executive producer, do you have any say in the challenges?
Because we do have such long periods of building, different stuff happens in those times.
But we do change stuff as we go and things happen.
[In this week’s] bridge-building challenge, some teams built bridges that exceeded our expectations.
Because some of the bridges were so strong.
It was a surprise to us.
That’s what was so fun.
I was genuinely excited and amazed by the builds in the bridge-building competition.
I’ve got to say, it was maybe my favorite episode.
If you could set a challenge, though, what would your ideal challenge be?
It’d be interesting to see our teams build out of that controlled environment.
Like on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
Was that something you guys set out to have on the show, or did it happen more organically?
And it really means “play well.”
That’s at the heart of it, right?
I want a show that shows people at their best.
We’re not trying to, like, put them on an island and get them drunk.
What can you tease about the rest of the season?
We have some great challenges to come.
We have a greatStar Warsepisode that is super-exciting.
And we get a visit from some iconicStar Warscharacters, which I think people will really enjoy.
Then the finale is exceptional.
It’s a marathon of building, in the best way.
Lego Mastersairs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
