Side Quest season 1: Everything we know so far
Side Quest made its debut on Apple TV+ on March 26, 2025. The series was created as a spin-off to Apple TV's Mythic Quest, which garnered a large fan following after its release in February 2020. This four-part anthology series is centered around the lives of various fans of the game Mythic Quest, making it an expansion of the universe.
Originally announced as an eight-part series titled Mere Mortals, it was reintroduced by Apple TV+ as Side Quest in November 2024 and consists of only four episodes.
Mythic Quest rolled out its first season on Apple TV+ on February 7, 2020. Seasons two, three, and four were released in May 2021, November 2022, and January 2025 respectively. Production for Side Quest was announced in December 2022, shortly after the release of the third season of Mythic Quest.
What we know about Side Quest so far
Side Quest takes the cameras outside of the production office of Mythic Quest and focuses on the lives of various people who play the game. With McElhenney reprising his role as creative director Ian and Derek Waters as Phil, the art director, this storyline drifts away from Mythic Quest's narrative of the game's team members as having little knowledge beyond their work.
Side Quest opens with art director Phil on vacation in Hawaii with his girlfriend, portrayed by Anna Konkle. As an argument breaks out between them amidst nonstop phone calls from Ian Grimm, the essence of this spin-off becomes clear to the viewer—life beyond playing the game.
This first episode, Song and Dance, is perhaps the only one that shows the viewer any correlation between this series and its predecessor.
The second episode, Pull List, deviates from this storyline and, in true anthology fashion, brings forth new characters and a whole different setting. This part focuses on Janae (Shalita Grant), a comic book store owner. Having received only a single copy of the latest MQ comic book, she attracts five teenagers, all on a quest to be the owner of that solo copy.
These characters, portrayed by Rome Flynn, William Stanford Davis, Bria Samoné Henderson, Ramon Reed, Leonard Robinson, and Gary Kraus, break out into banter amongst themselves, bringing a refreshing, feel-good taste to this series.
The third installment of this quartet, Fugue, features Sylvie (Annamarie Kasper). She is a young cellist who bags her dream job at Mythic Quest, earning herself a spot in their touring orchestra, and slowly watches her dream job unfold into a nightmare.
The fourth episode, The Last Raid, follows a group of high school friends known as Team Dab Queef, getting together to play their favorite game. This episode is entirely a gameplay of Mythic Quest, with the characters' voices in the background, bickering over their headsets.
However, a glitch in the game threatens to end not just the game but their friendship as well. While invoking the same feel-good vibes as Pull List, this episode also brings to light that there are more joys to life than a video game.
More about Mythic Quest
Created by Charlie Day, Megan Ganz, and Rob McElhenney, Mythic Quest is based on an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) of the same name. It features Ian Grimm, portrayed by Rob McElhenney. He is the creative director of the game, doing his best to keep his game at #1 with the help of his team at the office.
Although the tasks at hand involve lots of development, the team slowly learns that the real drama happens in real life, as it unfurls in this TV comedy.
Side Quest is available to stream on AppleTV+.
