Gary Whitta, creator of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons late-night talk show, discusses how he came up with the idea

We've been talking a lot about Animal Talking, the late-night talk show in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The show was created by Gary Whitta, co-writer on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. With the film industry on hiatus during the pandemic, Whitta found himself with some extra time to whittle away. It's that time that paved the way for Animal Talking.

In an interview with GameDaily, Whitta shares some more insight into how he came up with the idea for a late-night talk show to begin with.

“Honestly I was just curious and looking to experiment with what I could do with the game. I’ve been playing Animal Crossing every day since it came out; it’s been great therapy for me to escape to a relaxing island world where the worst thing that can ever happen to you is getting stung by a wasp. And I’ve always loved late-night talk shows; they are a cornerstone of American popular culture, and I thought it would be an interesting experiment to try and recreate a classic talk show set in the basement of my in-game house.”