MacGruber Newcomers Talk Joining the Series’ Absurdity for Peacock

One of the most exciting elements about Peacock‘s upcoming MacGruber series is that it features original stars like Will Forte, Ryan Phillippe, and Kristen Wiig all returning to reprise their roles from the film, though the series has also managed to spice things up by adding impressive actors to the ensemble, such as Laurence Fishburne and Billy Zane. While veterans of the narrative knew exactly what they were getting into for their returns to the series, newcomers had a bit of an adjustment period, detailing the challenges of remaining relatively stoic in the absurd narrative. MacGruber premieres on Peacock on December 16th.

When asked by ComicBook.com about his connection to the source material, Fishburne admitted, “No connection at all, didn’t know anything about it. I mean, obviously I grew up in a time when MacGyver was popular, so I understood the concept. I saw the film and laughed out loud. I read the scripts for the series and laughed out louder, and the opportunity to work with Kristen Wiig, and Will Forte, and Ryan Phillippe, and [writer] Jorma [Taccone], and all these people that are Saturday Night Live folk, I couldn’t pass that up.”

Zane plays the villain in the new series, which meant he had to not only keep a straight face with his hilarious co-stars, but he was also tasked with providing the drama to help push the narrative forward.

“It was painful and wonderfully frustrating. It was so much fun, but it’s like being the kid who just wanted to go out and play with the other boys and girls,” Zane detailed of maintaining drama among the outlandish premise. “We had to toe the line on absolute sincerity in order to allow for the most absurd dialogue and level of emotion that was coming out of Will and Kristen. Though, they tempered that with probably greater sincerity than us. I mean, you’re talking about … I always find comedians make incredible dramatic actors. Probably the best, to be honest. And so, to answer your question, it was wonderful. It was just simply … We were playing the comedy as a whole, but, individually, you just were dying to wink once, or do something silly. So we saved that for afterwards.”

In the new series, after rotting in prison for over a decade, America’s ultimate hero and uber patriot MacGruber (Forte) is finally released. His mission: to take down a mysterious villain from his past-Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth (Zane). With the entire world in the crosshairs, MacGruber must reassemble his old team, Vicki St. Elmo (Wiig) and Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe), in order to defeat the forces of evil.

Check out MacGruber when it premieres on Peacock on December 16th.

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