Back in April, Will Forte told us (while promoting Netflix’s The Willoughbys) that he was waiting for Peacock to officially greenlight the highly anticipated MacGruber TV series, and it’s finally happening. So, it looks like even if Tenet doesn’t make it into theaters as planned in a few weeks, die-hard fan Christopher Nolan has something else to be excited about, and the world could use any good news right now that it can get.
It’s also worth remembering that Forte warned promised fans that the MacGruber series, as written by himself, was too “filthy” for network TV, so thank goodness for streaming services, right? Between Brave New World‘s sex-rave scenes and Intelligence‘s foul-mouthed version of David Schwimmer, a filthy Forte character should feel at home on Peacock. In a Monday announcement, NBCUniversal’s streaming service revealed that the cult-favorite character of the iconic SNL parody sketch (who also spawned a 2010 feature film) is officially a thing. Forte, obviously, will don the aviator sunglasses for at least eight action-and-comedy packed episodes. He’s executive producing again, and the project still has the same logline as previously reported. From a press release:
After rotting in prison for over a decade, America’s ultimate hero and uber patriot MacGruber (Will Forte) is finally released. His mission: to take down a mysterious villain from his past—Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth. With the entire world in the crosshairs, MacGruber must race against time to defeat the forces of evil — only to find that evil… may be lurking within.
Lorne Michaels is onboard as an executive producer, a title also held by Forte. Deadline further reports that Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe haven’t officially joined this series yet, but it’s looking promising for both. See Forte making an official in-character announcement below.
And in other Peacock news, there’s also weekly topical late-night series hosted by Larry Wilmore and Amber Ruffin on the way as well, so Peacock’s definitely showing that they’re all in on these streaming wars.
