This past spring, Will Forte told us that he was patiently waiting for Peacock to officially greenlight the MacGruber TV show, and a few months later, word came down that the series was happening. Peacock has now announced a premiere date (December 16), which is approximately 11 years after the MacGruber film, which was (of course) based upon Forte’s recurring SNL sketch. The raunchiness of the film, co-starring Kristen Wiig as MacGruber’s sidekick (Vicki St. Elmo), surpassed the network incarnation of the sketch, but sadly, the title character’s sitting in prison these days, and that’s where this first teaser clip (a jailhouse interview) comes into play.
As you can see, MacGruber isn’t exactly friendly when (a decade into his life sentence following the demise of Val Kilmer’s Dieter Von Cunth) quizzed upon the specifics of why he told the court to “eat my sh*t,” and so on. It’s no wonder that Forte once promised fans that that this series (written by Forte) was too “filthy” for network TV. Here are details from the show’s synopsis:
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 (Billy Zane). With the entire world in the crosshairs, MacGruber must reassemble his old team, Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig) and Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe), in order to defeat the forces of evil.
In other words, welcome back to the aviator sunglasses. Forte and Lorne Michaels both executive produce here, and god only knows whether his “Disgraced American Hero” vibe will fly. Expect to see some Mickey Rourke in this series, and here are some first-look stills, including the return of Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe, along with the gloriously bewigged Sam Elliot and ultra-serious Laurence Fishburne.
MacGruber comes to Peacock on December 16.
