John Hoffman has left a paper trail.
And while “Only Murders in the Building” viewers may be experts in the comedy-drama series, the show’s creator is divulging some trivia that not every internet detective would know.
“The elevator doesn’t move,” Hoffman exclusively revealed to The Post. “And there’s a lot of great scenes in that elevator and a lot of tragedy that’s happening with that.”
Martin Short’s Oliver, Steve Martin’s Charles and Selena Gomez’s Mable often meet in the elevator when discussing their podcast, mulling over suspects or are on their way to interrogate neighbors.
In Season 3, the elevator’s malfunction foreshadowed the death of Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd).
The elevator has also been home to a slew of Arcadia residents riding it up to their apartments while gossiping, fighting or acting inconspicuous.
“It’s one of the things that I love about the show,” continued Hoffman, “was how to play with that elevator but ultimately, no, it doesn’t move. We can do stuff to it with adjustments. Maybe that’s obvious.”
Hoffman also shared the gory details of another behind-the-scenes secret.
“If there’s ever a pool of blood, I try to resist using it because more often than not it’s like a gelatinous kind of thing that sits on a floor so you can pick it up and you’re not ruining people’s costumes or getting things on people,” he explained. “It’s a thing that they can lay down and pick up. That’s used a lot in the business. When we first started dealing with blood, I’m like, ‘That’s what shows use?’ I’m like, ‘Wait a minute, that looks like a slap happy piece of rubber that goes down, and it just can look okay.’ But when I see it now I’m like, ‘I don’t buy that.'”
At the end of Season 3, Charles’s stunt double, Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch), died in a pool of her own blood. After being shot in Charles’ apartment, she used her blood to leave a clue as to who her killer was.
Season 5, which hit Hulu on Sept. 9, also opens up with the Arcadia’s beloved doorman Lester (Teddy Coluca) being found dead in a fountain. The water is filled with blood, leaving, of course, Charles, Oliver and Mable to investigate.
However, if audiences want the full scope of the show’s Easter eggs — they should focus on the opening credits.
“A lot of people, still to this day, don’t know that there’s a new clue in the opening credits for every episode,” Hoffman told The Post. “Each opening title sequence of every episode of the 50 we’ve now done has an Easter egg that points to something in that episode.”
“There’s ten more coming,” he noted of Season 5. “And each year, we work on that as well. What’s the thing that we can tease? What’s the thing that’s representative of this episode? What’s a clue? What’s a little Easter egg kind of thing we can do?”
The details are well documented but if you blink, you might miss them. In Season 1, episode 4 titled “The Sting,” a bee flew by Charles’ window in the opening credits.
In Season 4, episode 7 called “The Valley of the Dolls,” Meryl Streep’s character returns to town, wearing her signature hairdo: two braids.
In the opening credits, the camera pans past the windows of the trio’s apartments and everyone is sporting braids.
During the episode, in an attempt to flirt with Oliver, Charles’ sister Doreen (played by Melissa McCarthy), takes the braids off of one of her dolls and tries to wear them.
The team sometimes leaves more than one clue to be discovered, too.
“There may be various things,” Hoffman went on. “There may be more than one in there.”
Fans can specifically expect a well-hidden hint in Season 5.
“There is one in season five,” Hoffman detailed. “There is a biggie in season five. And there are some people in the press that have seen the episodes and stuff, and I’ve had conversations with them, and I think only one has picked up on this surprising little thing that’s going on in season five that I hope will make people laugh and they’ll enjoy it.”
With that being said, the writer is remaining tight-lipped.
As Hoffman teased: “That’s all I’ll say for that one.”