In an interview with Elle, Stone explained why she took on the series: "The thing I liked about Maniac was that it's about people who have their own internal struggles and are trying to fix them with a pill. But you see over the course of the show that human connection and love is really the only thing that gets us through life. I liked that idea, and I love Jonah [Hill]. I had worked with him on the first movie I ever did [Superbad], so it was, like, 11 years later."