Is Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects based on a true story? Explained
Adult Swim premiered its brand new animated drama/comedy Common Side Effects in February 2025, and the show just concluded its first season on March 30, 2025. With the release of its tenth episode, season 1 took viewers on a wild journey that involved a big pharma conspiracy and some character drama alongside much weirdness.
What Common Side Effects does is that takes inspiration from many real-life events and then combines them to make a narrative that is heightened and exciting. It's not based on a true story, but it is inspired by many real-life elements and people that helped shape its narrative.
Common Side Effects creators explain their inspirations behind the show
A lot of the show's elements are inspired by real-life elements. In an interview with GamesRant in February 2025, creators Joseph Bennett and Steven Hely explained the inspirations behind Marshall, the main character in Common Side Effects, who is an ethnobotanist and stumbles upon a blue mushroom that can cure any medical illness.
The main inspirations for Marshall were real-life mycologists and ethnobotanists - especially the likes of Paul Stamets, Terence McKenna, and Wade Davis. A lot of their personality was put into Marshall and it helped form a character who is passionate about the cause he believes in. Not only that, but his trust is hard to come by as well.
Another real-life element that inspired the show was the issues caused by big pharma in today's day. In the show, the company known as Reutical is portrayed as the main antagonist, and they do everything to make sure that the blue mushrooms never reach the general public.
Having lived through COVID-19, the creators explained that seeing how pharmas operated helped them form much of the plot of the show.
"Joe and I, like everybody else in the world, have encountered the massive insurance [and] health care system that we all have to deal with," explained Hely.
He continued:
"It's incredibly frustrating and annoying - how do we get to the humanity of that?"
Common Side Effects also packs in many Coen brothers inspirations
In the same interview, the creators also mentioned that a lot of Common Side Effects was inspired by the works of the Coen Brothers as well - the brothers director-duo who are famous for helming Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, and more. Burn After Reading was a film that helped form the tone for the animated series.
The idea for the show also came out when the creators decided to do a deep dive into mushrooms. Explaining their inspiration, Hely said:
"Mushrooms are interesting and strange. Some of them can kill you. Some of them make you feel funny. Some of them are delicious. They're weird."
He continued:
"There's so much we don't know about them. The more you learn about them, the weirder and stranger they get - the way they spread, the way they reproduce, the way they are cultivated, the way people use them."
Currently a season 2 of Common Side Effects is in development too, but a release date for it hasn't been made available. The first season of the show is currently avaible to stream on Max.
For further updates, stay tuned.
