Sunny Star Joanna Sotomura Talks Episode 9’s Big Moment, AI Anxieties, and the Process Behind Bringing the Titular Robot to Life

Through its first season, Apple TV+’s Sunny has been a pleasant surprise. For those not in the know, it’s a sci-fi dark comedy about grief, modern loneliness, and one of the biggest talking points of the moment: AI. We follow Suzie Sakamoto (Rashida Jones), a woman who finds herself in the middle of a winding conspiracy following the disappearance of her husband and son. She uncovers long-told lies, learns about a tech-centered black market, and, most surprising to her, befriends a machine.

And despite the show’s frequently grim subject matter, its titular robot, Sunny, is a ray of sunshine played to chipper perfection by Joanna Sotomura. Sotomura is perhaps best known for her Emmy-winning web series, Emma Approved, a loose adaption of Jane Austin’s Emma, but she’s also been in films like Madison Country and Everything Before Us, among others. We got a chance to talk with her about her character in Sunny, how this robot was brought to life using practical effects, and her thoughts on the series’ big questions.

Note: This conversation has been edited for length and clarity, and contains spoilers for Episode 9 of Sunny.

Paste Magazine: First off, I’m curious about what made you interested in working on Sunny? And what made you want to play the robot at the center of this story?

Joanna Sotomura: Well, what drew me in initially was the breakdown of the character when I was auditioning, that the character was a four-foot-tall, top-of-the-line home bot that’s a Girl Scout who means well but messes up. And I was like, “Oh, that’s great, I can do that. I know how to channel that energy.” And then I kept getting more of the script, and I was like, “Holy crap. This character lives in this world, in this story, in this journey, I have to be a part of it.” So initially, it was the character of Sunny, and then it was just the story that our showrunner, Katie Robbins, created. So yeah, it was a very, very easy choice.

Paste: Did you folks all read the book it’s based on, The Dark Manual, before filming?

Sotomura: Oh yeah, I read the book, and our show definitely takes liberties and is a loose interpretation of it. We go on kind of a different tangent, but the main themes are there, which are loss, grief, despair, and the big one of loneliness. So those we have in common.

Paste: One of the things I really like about your portrayal of Sunny is how the character starts out very bubbly and pleasant but then becomes more complicated and sort of human as the series goes on. Can you tell me a little bit about your thought process with the performance and your portrayal of the character?

Sotomura: Well, again, that was a really easy one because the scripts were so good that I just honestly tried to do service to that. And in the beginning, I thought it’d be really fun to have Sunny’s voice be something that was a little bit more naive and bright, like she just couldn’t wait to be with Suzie and help her through this journey. And then, throughout the process, the tone gets a little bit darker with the show, and Sunny’s actual tone starts to get a little bit deeper and more somber. And I really, really loved that they let me play that vocally. But yeah, honestly, I was just trying to do service to the amazing story that was in the script.

Paste: I feel like with that style of “robot butler” character, they frequently sound colder and machine-like, but you definitely get across more of a friendly, personable, and human vibe. Was that something that largely came from the script and the direction, or was it something you emphasized yourself with the performance?

Sotomura: I think it was a combo of both because we didn’t do any improv-ing, so all of Sunny’s little asides and jokes were all already written. But I did play around with the tone of it too, through various takes. So yeah, I’d say it was a good marriage of the two. And throughout the season, I definitely was given the note to sometimes tone down the Joanna-ness of Sunny, just a little bit [Laughs]. Just to stay with the themes, and I’m very happy with that now. Otherwise, we would have had a very bright, one-note robot girl the whole time, but I’m happy with it.

Paste: Do you have a favorite line of dialog that Sunny says throughout the show or a favorite moment around the character?

Sotomura: There were actually a lot of fun moments with Sunny in between takes when I’d be off in the little robot tent going over my lines. And people would come up to Sunny [the on-set robot] and whisper in her ear, pat her head, rub her back, or tell her secrets, which is funny, because her ears are actually fans. I also tried to give her a little personality in between takes. So I would be like, “Oh, thank you,” or “You did a great job too!” and interact with people. But if I really needed to focus, I would just put Sunny’s little face into the mode with the Zs so people would think she’s powered off, even though I could see everything. It was like, my little Sunny hack, just to take a few seconds to not be be-bopping around.

Paste: So that actually ties into something I was curious about: how did your character Sunny physically work on set? Because she looks like a practical, physical robot instead of being CGI. Also, it sounds like you weren’t just recording the lines in a booth like with most voice acting, but there was some kind of jerry-rigging going on, so I’m curious how that played out?

Sotomura: Oh, totally. And I’m so excited to explain this to people and finally talk about all the tech. So, it was a practical, four-foot-tall robot on set with very, very limited CGI. I would go as Joanna on set, and I would do the rehearsal, and they would put a little piece of tape where Sunny’s eye line would be, which is right around my tummy. Then, I would go off and would get rigged up in this helmet that had counterweights, ring lights, a camera, and a monitor. And it would be tracking my face and projecting it in real-time to the Sunny robot that we had. So anytime you see Sunny talking, moving her mouth, or emoting, that’s me doing it right off camera and also moving her little head.

And then, we had two puppeteers who would mimic what I was doing with my hands and my motions, and they would drive her and do her arms. And then we had another person who would be dressed in a Sunny suit, doing more practical things. We had about 13 people in total who helped to make this Sunny go around. But yeah, everything you see is practical, with me just tucked away in a wall, under the floor, or, a lot of times, in a closet. Which is funny because, watching the show now, I’m like, “That’s where I was, and that’s where I was, and that’s where I was.” But yeah, that’s basically how our Sunny came to be.

Paste: That’s very cool. I think you can feel that effort in the show, especially compared to a lot of older movies with CGI where the actors are performing in front of green screens and you can feel that the connection between the cast isn’t really there. Was the rationale of setting up Sunny that way, with you on-set, to get around those sorts of issues?

Sotomura: Yeah, I mean, I think that’s a huge reason why our creators wanted a practical robot because they wanted that essence. Especially with a show that deals with loneliness, I think it would be hard for Rashida to act alone, funny enough. But yeah, they wanted that chemistry. They wanted that sort of connection to really play across, and I think the best way to do it was to use that practical robot. I was nervous in the beginning because I wasn’t sure how it would come about, but watching the episodes now, I’m so happy they went that route. And I really feel like it connects with audiences. I’m so happy you said that, and I feel like a lot of people are getting that vibe from our show.

Paste: You mentioned Rashida Jones, who plays Suzie in the series. Her character is constantly getting into back-and-forths with Sunny, and the relationship between your two characters is central to the show. What was it like to work with her? And how did you go about establishing the rapport that comes across on-screen between your characters?

Sotomura: Yeah, I mean, working with Rashida Jones is one of the coolest things I’ll probably ever do in my entire life. She’s just the kindest, coolest person and such a giving actor. She absolutely crushes that role of Suzie Sakamoto by playing that real dark theme of grief and loneliness, but then also coupled with these funny moments of dark humor that I really, really love. Yeah, in terms of creating our relationship, again, everything was just on paper already; it was just really well written. And I love the fact that they kind of meet each other at very, very different energies because I think it’s fun to watch them collide in that way. But yeah, working with Rashida Jones was an absolute blast.

Paste: Do you have a favorite backstage moment or something, either with Rashida or anyone else for making the show?

Sotomura: I mean, yeah, one of the coolest things we did is that, for our director Lucy Tcherniak’s birthday, we all went to karaoke. We were all under a lot of stress because it was really, really hot, and we were all working really, really hard. But there, we all just got to let loose and play and sing and have a good time. That was one of the best memories from Japan.

Paste: Was the series all filmed on-location in Japan?

Sotomura: Yeah, so we filmed six months from June to December, I believe, in 2022. A lot in Tokyo, in studios, and some in Kyoto. It was right before Japan had re-opened its borders to tourism, so you had to have a work visa. So, a lot of the streets in Kyoto were empty, and it was quiet and serene. These places that are now jam-packed were just like a painting. So I think that’s one of the reasons why we got so many of those beautiful shots, because the country was kind of closed, right?

Paste: Do you think some of the show’s themes about isolation and performances were at least partially influenced by similar isolation from COVID-19 lockdowns?

Sotomura: I mean sure, it could be. I definitely think it touches on that kind of loneliness that we all felt during COVID. I mean, we were very, very siloed. I think everyone was going through the same thing, and just had no real human connection to bond over, so in a funny way, we all relied on our tech to kind of help us form that connection, whether it was via Zoom or Jack Box or Tiktok. So, yeah, I don’t know if our show directly pulled from the loneliness of COVID, but I think it definitely can relate to that.

Paste: I wanted to talk to you about Episode 9, “Who’s in the Box?” which is a very Sunny-centric one and my personal favorite of the bunch. That episode is basically about Sunny trying to decide if she wants to delete her memory because her programming has evolved in a way that could be dangerous. What do you think about that episode in general? And what are your thoughts on Sunny’s decision and headspace in that moment?

Sotomura: Oh, man, well, I’m so happy you liked that episode. It’s also one of my favorite ones. It is just so bonkers, and reading it, I was like, “What in the world is this?” And so for it to all come across means so much to me. Our director, Makoto Nagihisa, it was the one episode that he did, and he is just such a visionary. And he had so much fun with the colors and marrying the chaos with real heavy themes of “Do I delete myself and lose all these memories, or do I keep them but potentially remain a danger to society?”

It was so much fun to be able to play around with that. It was a really heartbreaking episode to film, and I think it’s a tough theme. If I were in that position where I knew I could potentially hurt people, but I would lose all the memories that I created with the person that I love, selfishly, I’d probably be like, “All right, I’ll keep the memories,” right? Yeah, shoot. Especially now, being a new mom, I don’t know. It’s a tough dilemma, and I’m really, really, really excited for audiences to be able to see what she does with it.

Paste: Another big moral dilemma in the show is around the creation of these robots. They were developed to help socially isolated people reintegrate into society, which is a noble starting point, but then we see they can also potentially be dangerous. I’m curious about your personal feelings on this; do you feel like it’s justified to create this kind of robot that could help people but could also cause harm?

Sotomura: Yeah, that’s a great question. I think one of my favorite things about this whole series is that exact thing about using AI and tech to be, I think as Masa says in Episode 9, a social sandbox. One that can teach us to reintegrate ourselves back into society and back to forming human connections, which I feel like we absolutely are moving away from as a society. I think we’re really missing that bond. So I love that they play with AI like that. Yeah, it’s such a tough dilemma, too, because there’s so much tech out there too that helps our lives every day so immensely, and then is really scary, like AI in general, or self-driving cars. So it’s just as with anything that humans get their hands on, it’s just finding that balance of using it for its purpose but also being wary of the dangers that everyone can wield with it, so it’s very complicated.

Paste: The series ends on a cliffhanger, would you be open to coming back for a Season 2?

Sotomura: Oh, it does. I would love to come back to the show. It was such a great experience to be able to film in Japan for those six months. On top of that, I just am so in love with the story that to be able to continue with it would be an absolute honor. And then I loved playing Sunny. It was really, really hard learning the tech with the helmet and also the heat and all those practical aspects of it, as well as learning Japanese. But playing that character was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in terms of acting in my career. So, yes, easily, I would revisit this character and this world.

Paste: Related to what you just mentioned about needing to learn Japanese for the role, was playing a bilingual character in the show difficult?

Sotomura: Yeah, it was. I grew up speaking very basic Japanese, like super basic sentence structure. But for Sunny, she speaks full conversations in very complicated Japanese. So, I had a dialect coach, Yumi Mizui, who taught me my lines almost melodically. I kind of learned them like a song and would be able to understand my cues and things like that. But, yeah, it was pretty challenging, but it was also great to start to learn the language again and pick it back up.

Paste: Last question. So, Sunny is a show about anxieties around AI and robots. As a performer, do you have personal thoughts on how some studios seem to want to use generative AI to replace vocal performances and filmmakers?

Sotomura: Absolutely, I think it’s really scary as an artist in any sense; as an actor, someone that’s into visual design, for writers. I do think it’s something that we absolutely should keep our eye on because it’s scary what it’s capable of doing, and how fast it’s growing. On the flip side, I do think there is just no replacing human touch on things, like I think we are very far off from having AI replicate tone or connection or true cinema just yet. I do think we have to keep our eyes open, but I think right now, there’s just no replacing the humanity of it all.

Elijah Gonzalez is an assistant Games and TV Editor for Paste Magazine. In addition to playing and watching the latest on the small screen, he also loves film, creating large lists of media he’ll probably never actually get to, and dreaming of the day he finally gets through all the Like a Dragon games. You can follow him on Twitter @eli_gonzalez11.

For all the latest TV news, reviews, lists and features, follow @Paste_TV.