MacGruber returned yesterday after more than a decade away, with his new series dropping on Peacock, the NBCUniversal streaming platform. An over-the-top parody of MacGyver, the series centers on a decorated veteran who faces extraordinary odds (and kills lots of bad guys) in the name of making the world a better place. The series is based on the 2010 movie of the same name, which proved popular enough that there have been sequel or TV spinoff rumors going on basically since the film was released. Forte is returning to write, executive produce, and star in the upcoming MacGruber series, reprising his role from the original film.
Produced by Universal Television, MacGruber will pick up more than ten years after the events of the movie. It seems MacGruber has been in prison during that time but is released at the beginning of the series, and he’s set on hunting down a dangerous enemy.
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Forte opened up about the progress of the series before it had been picked up during an interview with ComicBook.com in May. “Well, I will say we are not officially green lit but we did just an hour ago turn in our writer’s draft of the eighth of eight episodes,” Forte said in the interview seen in the video above. “So, we’re excited about what we’ve written so far and, obviously, we are gonna go back through now and just keep rewriting each episode and making them tighter and funnier. We’re excited so far and hopefully soon we’ll get an official green light but things are looking good so far.”
Jorma Taccone, the director and co-writer of the film, will direct, write, and executive produce the show as well. Other executive producers include Lorne Michaels, John Solomon, John Goldwyn, Andrew Singer, and Erin David. Other members of the cast include Billy Zane, Ryan Phillippe, Kristen Wiig, and Laurence Fishburne.
Here’s the official synopsis for the MacGruber series:
“After rotting in prison for over a decade, America’s ultimate hero and uber patriot MacGruber 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 (Will Forte), Vicki and Piper must race against time to defeat the forces of evil. Only to find that evil… may be lurking within.”
If you haven’t signed up for Peacock yet, you can try it out here.