Through Only Murders in the Building he had the opportunity to craft and artfully act as a complex deaf character. Caverly has previously indicated, "there are one too many creators who write disabled characters as two-dimensional: fixating on their disability without room for growth." However, Caverly worked with series co-creator John Hoffman and director Cherien Dabis "to figure out how to portray Theo authentically without feeling like a gimmick. Aside from the dialogue changes, [the trio] talked about how a deaf person views the world," making the character creation "a true collaborative effort between the creators and [Caverly] to bring the character to life."
