There are nuns. There is evil AI. What we learned about 'Mrs. Davis' before SXSW screening

The challenge: hold a big South by Southwest entertainment panel about a TV show nobody’s seen yet, “Mrs. Davis,” that has something to do with nuns (nuns in turquoise are walking around the conference).

Your tools: showrunner Tara Hernandez, who’s been a co show-runner on “Young Sheldon” and “The Big Bang Theory,” and Damon Lindelof, famously of “Lost,” the underappreciated “The Leftovers” and the stellar one-season wonder “Watchmen” on HBO.

Oh, and your panel has to happen when it seems like half of SXSW’s attendees are in line for the not-so-secret screening of “John Wick 4,” happening at 5 p.m. Monday as soon as this panel ends.

Now go!

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The show, which seems to be about a nun, Sister Simone, who is battling an artificial intelligence entity called Mrs. Davis, is screening Tuesday night at Stateside Theater. The panel ended up being a lot about how Hernandez and Lindelof came together before COVID to start putting this new Peacock series, which debuts April 20, together and what happened after that. Joanna Robinson from The Ringer moderated the panel.

Hernandez discussed growing up in a Mexican household where the family dinner table was good training for comedy writing rooms and how she worked hard to study the structure of comedy and sitcoms as she came up the ranks. Eventually, she says, “It’s not family dinner, it’s your job now.”

Lindelof, whose first TV job was on the forgotten drama “Wasteland,” said he was looking for a project after “Watchmen” to collaborate on but didn’t want to manage the show. He said he wanted, “someone with a unique voice who’s never show run before.” He read a writing sample from Hernandez, which was a show with nuns called “Mercy House” that he describes as “apocalyptic and weird and wonderful.”

Their meeting before the pandemic led to a long gestation for the series, which Hernandez describes thusly: “A nun named Sister Simone is on a quest to destroy an all-powerful algorithm known as Mrs. Davis.”

Lindelof added, “Nun versus AI, who ya got?”

A trailer shown for the first time anywhere during the panel looks absolutely bonkers. It involves The Holy Grail and maybe a million other elements. The trailer is funny, punchy and visually thrilling with lead Betty Gilpin, who was great in Netflix’s “Glow,” driving the action.

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Both writers said they are huge genre fans (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Twin Peaks” are touchstones), but both like genre shows that feature characters who behave like real people and that have a recognizable reality. Lindelof said he’s not a fan of the word “grounded,” but prefers what Hernandez has in her writing: “It has lift,” he said.

Interestingly, the show was developed before ChatGPT and other current popular AI tools were known in the mainstream. Hernandez says it’s a credit to the writers on the show that they were ahead of the curve on that score.

So, back to how to describe a weird genre show to an audience that hasn’t screened it? Hernandez says Amazon’s little-seen “Patriot” was an influence, and that Gilpin, who plays Sister Simone, described “Mrs. Davis” as “No Country for Old Looney Tunes.”

Added Lindelof: “It has a weird heist-y energy.” He believes the surprise of what the show actually could be delightful to audiences.

What is this show? The trailer didn’t explain a lot.

Audiences at SXSW will find out Tuesday night.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Betty Gilpin fights evil AI in 'Mrs. Davis' trailer at SXSW