Dan Levy in 'Big Mistakes' on Netflix.

Photo by Spencer Pazer/Netflix

Dan Levy knows a thing or two about writing funny TV shows centered on dysfunctional families in complicated situations. Now, he’s back with Netflix’s new crime comedy Big Mistakes.

Levy had massive success with the award-winning series Schitt’s Creek, which he created alongside his father, Eugene Levy. In his latest endeavor, which is his second original scripted series, he draws from a real-life irrational fear of being blackmailed into a life of crime. In addition to starring, he serves as co-creator, showrunner, and executive producer.

Levy sat alongside castmate Taylor Ortega just before the April 9 premiere of the eight-episode series to discuss the kooky siblings they portray. Creating a high-stakes family crime thriller that balances dark themes with laugh-out-loud humor required careful attention to character and tone.

Levy and Ortega form a comically chaotic duo as Nicky and Morgan Dardano, a brother-sister pair who repeatedly put each other’s lives at risk while getting entangled with a wildly unorganized group of New Jersey buffoons led by a bumbling Yusuf (Boran Kuzum). Constantly in over their heads, the siblings are repeatedly blackmailed into taking on dangerous assignments.

“The minute I thought, ‘Ooh, what if we made a crime comedy?’ the whole world opened up for me,” said Levy, adding that he and series co-creator Rachel Sennott worked diligently to flesh out the characters inhabiting this offbeat world.

Ultimately, he says developing the early stages of a show starts with identifying “the tension that’s going to be introduced.” In this case, the story revolves around crime, and Levy and Sennott worked to ensure the characters would be “the furthest from accepting this crime into their lives as humanly possible.” Much of the early work, he stated, was focused on building characters whose worlds felt entirely incompatible with that reality. “What about these two characters and their extended family is like so not conducive to crime?”

That process led to distinct, offbeat character details. Levy described his character Nicky as “a pastor who’s doing some bad in his little community.” As for his sister, Morgan, he added, “She’s failed out of being an actress in New York City and is down and out on her luck. It was this perfect alchemy of situation meeting circumstance that I think allowed the comedy to free-flow.”

The key, Levy emphasized, is laying the groundwork early. “If you do the work in researching and developing the characters very early on, you’re golden for a season of storytelling.”

This was Ortega’s first starring role in a television series, and she nailed it. She explained why she understood Morgan’s descent into crime. “I think that it's pretty relatable to feel like your life and your dreams were not as easy to accomplish as you thought they would be. I definitely remember a time in my early twenties, just kind of feeling like I knew everything, and everything was pointless. And then you find something that gives you purpose. To me, it felt really justifiable that she finds herself being needed and respected, and hearing that she's good at something. And you'll justify a lot. There's an adrenaline rush there. It's hard to replace. So I really stand by everything she does.”

Laurie Metcalf, who recently (and flawlessly) portrayed the overbearing mother of a serial killer in Ryan Murphy’s Monster: The Ed Gein Story, is equally brilliant as Linda, the neurotic mother of Nicky, Morgan, and their sister, Natalie, played by Abby Quinn. Levy laughed when her name came up, saying that he’d take any opportunity to watch Metcalf “whirl through a scene.”

Levy previously struck comedy gold with Schitt’s Creek, which aired for six seasons from 2015 to 2020 and spanned 80 episodes. The series earned a total of 112 award wins and 153 nominations, including nine Primetime Emmy Awards from 19 nominations. All nine Emmy awards were won during its sixth and final season, setting a record for the most Emmy wins in a single season for a comedy series.

That historic 2020 Emmy sweep included major awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, writing, directing, casting, costumes, and all four main acting categories for Eugene Levy, the late Catherine O’Hara, Dan Levy, and Annie Murphy.

Will Big Mistakes reach the same heights? Only time will tell, but it has all the ingredients to become the streamer’s next breakout comedy hit.