Set in a video game studio, the sitcom “Mythic Quest” is full of eccentric workaholics. But none are more frantic, frenzied or anxious than Poppy Li, played by Charlotte Nicdao.
A prodigious but petulant engineer, Poppy is given to meltdowns and primal screams, many stemming from a war of wills with her egomaniacal, codependent business partner, Ian Grimm, played by Rob McElhenney. (McElhenney created the show with Charlie Day and Megan Ganz, who also work with him on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”)
Over three seasons, Nicdao has viewed her character as everything from a “lovable underdog” to an unprintable descriptor. These days she’s looking favorably upon her geeky, gawky enfant terrible thanks to a paradigm shift in the fourth season, which debuted this week on Apple TV+. (Note the premiere episode is entitled “Boundaries.”)
“There’s always this power imbalance between Poppy and Ian — like, who’s the queen, who’s the king?” Nicdao said. “This season, Poppy has got more power, there’s no question. But it’s not in the ways that you’d expect.”
“Mythic Quest” is the first major American series for Nicdao, who grew up and still lives in Australia. Previously a classical pianist, singer and orchestral clarinetist, she started acting in high school productions and began her TV career at 17 on an Australian kids’ show. (Her father, Alfred Nicdao, is a well-known actor in Australia.)
Sitcom gigs followed. “One of the biggest roles that I ever had was a series regular on a show called ‘Camp,’ which was an NBC show that filmed in Australia,” she said, noting that the experience was what inspired her to pursue roles in the United States.
When not playing a tortured tech genius over the last few years, Nicdao has voiced characters on animated sitcoms like “Solar Opposites” and “Star Trek: Lower Decks” as well as on the beloved Australian cartoons “Bluey” and “The Strange Chores.”
Nicdao’s own life, she said, informs some of what happens to her tempestuous alter ego, but she did note one big difference between them: She is an avid cook obsessed with farmers’ markets, while her character is known for subsisting solely off gas station Buffalo chicken pizza. In a video interview from her Melbourne home earlier this month, Nicdao also discussed Poppy’s newfound personal growth and her side project with the first Filipino TV actor she ever idolized — her father. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
You once described the Mythic Quest employees as “a dysfunctional found family.” In the new season, Poppy finally seems to be stepping away from that dynamic.
That is really at the core of Season 4. I would never have predicted Poppy would be the one to say: “You know what? I’m gonna work on myself. I’m gonna try to figure out how to be a well-balanced, happy person.” One of the biggest conflicts is trying to find a healthy space, and Ian doesn’t know what to do when the relationship isn’t dysfunctional.
As the person who plays Poppy, do you get a say in what happens to her?
The producers and writers do include us in the way our characters are growing. Poppy was never written to be Australian; she was never written to be a Filipina. She honestly wasn’t written to be in her 20s either. When I was cast, bit by bit, these parts of who I am started to inform who Poppy is. So this season, the things that were going on with me in my life started to inform what was going on with Poppy.
She’s not wearing exclusively hoodies anymore. For someone like her, blouses are a big leap.
In my mind, I was like, “She will never not wear the same hoodie and jeans.” It’s a uniform, her armor. It’s saying: “Don’t look at me; look at my work. I’m practical. I’m an engineer. It’s all about my brain.” This was the first season that we were like, “Let’s play around.” Poppy’s got a boyfriend. She’s thinking about how she looks outside of work. She’s not just making games anymore; she’s making sculpture and conceptual artworks. She’s saying: “I’m not going to make apologies anymore. I am an artist. I am creative, and I’m going to let that show in the way that I present myself.”
It’s now less about her being a so-called “woman in tech” and more about her being a woman, full stop.
I always thought of Poppy as being asexual, and she kind of was. She’s never had time to explore what being a woman might mean. Now she’s discovering, “Oh, maybe I am a sexual being.” She’s not turning into Barbie, but she’s finding a different part of herself. In the tech world, like in a lot of industries, there’s a lot of pressure on women, in order to be successful, to basically cosplay masculinity. If you want to be taken seriously as a woman, you have to be as much like a man as possible. It’s cool that she’s leaning into her femininity a little more, and it’s serving her well.
Poppy’s not the only one trying new things: You directed an episode this season.
Because we are such a well-oiled machine, there’s a lot of space to experiment. A lot of the cast got the opportunity to direct an episode. This is the first Hollywood show I’ve ever done and I was like: “Wow! Is this how it’s always done?” … and I’m told that it is not.
You also just put out a short film you wrote and directed, starring your father. How did that come about?
We made that in 2023, during the actors’ and writers’ strikes. I was back in Australia, itching to do something creative. My dad has been an actor since the ’70s here. When I was growing up, he would audition here and there. He’d get cast as a restaurateur, a gangster, a doctor — these very stereotypical Asian roles — for a scene or an episode, and that would be it. There’s just never really been space for an actor of color to shine until the last decade or so.
He called me with this idea: “I want to make a short film about an actor like me, in his 60s, trying to figure out my place in the industry.” I have a lot of talented friends here in Melbourne, and we got together and were like, “Can we make this in two days with the resources that we have?” It was completely independent.
Now that you’ve gotten a taste of directing, both with the short and “Mythic Quest,” do you want to do more in the future?
I always thought, “If I could somehow make a living out of being an actor, I’ll be happy, and I don’t dare ask for more than that.” I really credit Rob for — right from Season 1 — starting to have conversations with me about: “What else do you want to do? If there’s even a small part of you that’s interested in directing, writing, producing, how can I help?” By the time we got to Season 4 and the opportunity to direct was there, I’d realized directing is a different way to flex this motivation I have to be a storyteller. I’ve been so surprised that the rush that I get from stepping on set as a director is exactly the same as the rush that I get from stepping onstage as an actor. So, yeah, I am hoping that there are more opportunities to do that kind of work.