Creating the Devil's Advocate

Meet a new member of our Crash Course Religions team: the hate-able, love-able Devil’s Advocate. This John Green alter ego came about from early editorial discussions. We knew that many folks would come to this series with misconceptions. And we wanted to address them head-on without being preachy or making viewers feel bad for believing those misconceptions in the first place.

So we created the Devil’s Advocate as a way to address some of those incorrect assumptions in a funny and engaging way. We brainstormed his look—and settled on the Sue Sylvester-esque red track suit with a chain. We decided he would appear in an inopportune and unwanted FaceTime call. And we made a list of common phrases that real-life “devil’s advocates” say, like “I’m just asking questions,” to incorporate. Creating this character was so much fun, and we hope it adds to your journey of learning about religions!