The sixth — and sadly, final — season of HBO’s “Silicon Valley” doesn’t kick off until Oct. 27, but a select group of Bay Area fans got a little taste of what it has to offer during a premiere screening event Wednesday night in San Francisco.
A packed crowd of mostly tech industry types viewed the opening episode at Lucasfilm’s theater on the Presidio and then we’re treated to a Q&A session with the cast and producers, followed by a Hawaiian-themed party with cocktails and pupu’s.
Why Hawaiian? Apparently Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) has his heart set on making a trip to the islands this season — as long as the paychecks keep flowing from his job with Pied Piper.
Nanjiani was the only major cast member not in attendance. “He’s a Marvel movie guy,” noted Thomas Middleditch, pointing out that his newly buffed-up co-star is busy filming “The Eternals” for the big screen.
Middleditch, who plays nerdy Pied Piper CEO Richard Hendricks, was joined on the panel by Matt Ross (Gavin Belson) Martin Starr (Bertram Gilfoyle), Amanda Crew (Monica Hall), and Zach Woods (Jared Dunn), along with “Silicon Valley” producer-writers Mike Judge and Alec Berg.
At times, the discussion moderated by former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, went humorously off the rails as a couple of the stars became fixated on just how much money was in the room.
“Can we just go around and have everyone say their net worth?” Middleditch asked, peering into the audience. “Just to get it out of the way.”
“Yeah, and include real estate assets,” Woods added.
Ross, a resident of Berkeley, pointed out that, when it comes to dollar figures, he can’t measure up to some of his fellow Bay Area residents.
“The truth is, (being on the show) really hasn’t changed my life,” he said. “I’m not a billionaire and that’s the great tragedy of my life. I only play one on television. I am, in fact, not a billionaire, which I’d love to change.”
We won’t drop any major spoilers here, but be forewarned that the final season consists of only seven episodes (Bummer). At least they get off to a hilarious start with a that has a highly jittery Richard is testifying before Congress about the security of user data (Shades of Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance on Capitol Hill). His basic message? Companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon have become too big and powerful and it’s time to create “a new, democratic, decentralized Internet.”
Also, San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo has a very brief cameo appearance.
Berg acknowledged that the show, which now asks “How big is too big?,” has evolved dramatically from its early days.
“The first season was really about a small group of outsiders trying to battle against a larger business that was very smug and lacked self awareness,” he said, making sure to add — in a wink to the audience — “Not you. Others similar to you.
“And now it’s become, in a weird way, about people who are literally trying to save the world from people — again, not you — who have torn the fabric of society and broken the world. Other people.”
