Marking its final adventure, the third season of Apple TV+’s acclaimed Jane premiered last week. I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with two of the key creative forces behind this environmentally conscious children’s series. The seasoned duo of J. J. Johnson and Matt Bishop (best known – at least in this writer’s house, for Odd Squad) have channeled their collaborative energy into bringing this show, deeply inspired by the groundbreaking work of Dr. Jane Goodall, to a global audience. Our chat touched on some of the baby animals featured in this season, to the inspiring messages of environmental hopefulness and conservation for Jane’s young viewers.
The Interview with Jane’s J. J. Johnson and Matt Bishop
[Editor’s Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.]
Ayla Ruby: So season three, the final season, which makes me sad. What can we expect from, without spoilers from the environmental issues or animals that are featured? I saw some hippos.
JJ Johnson: Yes. I mean, I would say this season is definitely some of our biggest adventures yet. And I would say also some of our most heartfelt, and so like you said, we’ve got hippos, we’ve got elephants, we’ve got wombats. We’re flying around with albatross, and we build up to our finale episode, which covers chimpanzees, which is just, a beautiful kind of dovetail of all of the seasons together.
Ayla Ruby: So do you have a favorite animal or episode from across all three seasons? I ask this again because my daughter would want to know this.
JJ Johnson: You want to start, Matt?
Matt Bishop: Sure. I think I have a favorite animal in here, but then a favorite moment, but I would say the Baby Rhino was such a wonderful experience to build, and I have to credit the production team. They came back with beautiful footage from Africa and it was just, it’s stunning. It was like painting on this beautiful canvas. So I can’t wait for the audience to see that because this season does feature a lot of infants and I think there’s a magical relationship because they are, just like humans, they’re extra adorable at that age.
And so the babies this season are quite magical, but there’s a beautiful moment that we were actually inspired by Dr. Goodall, interacting with a chimpanzee. And I won’t spoil it, but you’ll see it at the end and it will totally resonate together. So I think this season has the most action and the most heart of what we’ve created so far.
JJ Johnson: I would just say, yeah, for me, definitely our finale episode, which is about chimpanzees and the fact that we get to see Dr. Jane Goodall make a special appearance, just brings everything together. Also, that Greybeard, who has been her best friend, the stuffy come to life, chimpanzee has his biggest moments in that episode as well because he’s seeing the things that are happening to other chimpanzees. And so that really challenges the relationship between Jane and him, which was just fascinating to watch them play and then to bring Jane Goodall into that as well. It’s just some magical moments throughout that episode.
Ayla Ruby: Now you both have a very long working relationship. How does that, and you have a rhythm, how does that work? How has that evolved up to this point? Especially in terms of just coming up with the episodes, coming up with the animals, for example, you mentioned the infant animals.
JJ Johnson: Yeah, I mean, I’ll kick it off.
Ayla Ruby: A broad question.
JJ Johnson: Yes. No, no, no. But it’s that we love making stuff and we really want to challenge ourselves to keep improving and keep trying to be as dynamic. This audience, it’s a privilege to produce for them, and it’s also a great responsibility, but within that privilege, you want to live up to what’s in their imaginations and their imaginations are limitless. And so we really try to put our heads together to be like, how can we show off this incredible planet in the most dynamic, fun, action, adventure way? And then underneath of that include a message of conservation and hopefulness about the environment.
Those take giant teams to execute. And so we’re lucky. I mean, there’s two of us, but this show was done by over a hundred people coming together to put all their expertise together. But I would say that’s the core at Sinking Ship, is just trying to find ways to push that visual envelope. And on a narrative level, how do we pull on those heartstrings?
Matt Bishop: Absolutely. We’ve been collaborating for 22 years together, and so to me there is a certain shorthand. And one of the things that’s been great about that too is also then finding broadcast partners that are also are fearless as well. Because working with JJ, it would be very common to be a couple of days before a shoot, “I think we should do this.” And it’s a crazy idea that requires a lot of planning. But what I love is that we do it and we make it, and because we want the shows to be epic, and if there’s an opportunity to go epic, we tend to go that way. And that is only possible with a network like Apple TV+ that also embraces that and says, some shows fade away and this show definitely ramps up towards the end. So it takes a village to pull that off, and that has to start with a great broadcast partner.
Ayla Ruby: That’s wonderful. So you alluded to that maybe a little bit. You talked about a last minute pivot to make something more epic. Is there anything that was super challenging to pull off this season? And I know we’re just about at the end. Or anything else you want people to know about the show that you haven’t talked about?
JJ Johnson: Yeah, I mean, I would say that the level of interaction, particularly in our finale between our real characters and our digital characters was probably some of the most emotional storytelling we’ve done. And I was blown away by the visual effects team, how they rose to that challenge. I mean, you really feel for them, and that’s what we need to have happen. This whole show is predicated on this quote from Dr. Goodall that was, “Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, we’ll all be saved.” And that’s what we try to do throughout each season and throughout each episode is get an understanding of the animal and the problem and how that reflects in your own community. Care about it, care enough that you want to do something and then move them to action. And so hopefully that happens in each episode.
Matt Bishop: I was going to say to build on what JJ was saying, what I love about what the creative team did is they did make it digestible. They made the message massive, but also there’s concrete things that you can do. And I can see it in my own 8-year-old, and I can see it with little things about when we’re at the beach and they’ll find some plastic, or you’ll find out with the albatross what it goes after, and she’ll pick that stuff up and she’ll put it in her bag. And it’s just these little actions that then these little waves become ripples and they become changes.
So to me, it’s something that can inspire, but you can then also act on it as well. And I think that to me is what I’m excited for the audience to see in this season.
Ayla Ruby: Well, fantastic. Thank you very much. And I also want to echo that as a mom, because I’ve seen that with my daughter after she’s watched the first two seasons. So, that’s fantastic.
JJ Johnson: Amazing. Thank you.
Jane is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Learn more about the show, including how to watch, on the Apple TV+ site for the title.
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