What if Hugh Grant promised you a freshly baked blueberry pie? It sounds like a dream scenario plucked from an inviting Christmas rom-com, but directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods use it as the basis for something wonderfully sinister.

Few films have been as simultaneously silly and pulse-pounding as Heretic, a tale of two young Mormon missionaries lured into an elaborate test of faith. The film is Saw for Reddit atheism, anchored by a delightfully devious performance from Grant, whose career heartthrob status is turned on its head. The plot may as well be improvised, given how each reveal seems to emanate from nowhere, but the precision with which the directing duo turns each screw is a marvel to behold. Heretic shouldn’t work, and the fact that it does is a twisted miracle.

In late September, just as Over the Garden Wall fans around the world prepared to revisit the animated classic in a yearly autumnal tradition, Cartoon Network teased something new. A full decade after the original miniseries from Patrick McHale made its debut, the studio would return to the dark, magical realm of the Unknown and its unusual inhabitants for a new stop-motion short from the legendary Aardman Studios.

Now, the time has finally arrived. To celebrate the occasion, Inverse spoke to McHale (via email) to ask about this new Over the Garden Wall short, including how it came about and where it slots into the original story (he wouldn’t reveal the answer to that one). And because we’re fans of McHale, we also asked about a few other projects, including that Netflix Redwall adaptation that never happened, which he says would have evoked the feeling of the original book covers.