Rowan Atkinson’s Man Vs Bee Trailer Released by Netflix

The trailer for Rowan Atkinson’s new Netflix series Man Vs Bee has been released online, and you can watch it above! The series comes with a really straightforward premise, that totally lives up to its title: a man goes to war with a bee in his house, and things end up getting very out of hand – in the classic Rowan Atkinson way. The Mr. Bean and Johnny English actor hasn’t lost a step, even when he’s acting against a CGI bumblebee. In fact, Atkinson has pretty much made the perfect series for the COVID era…

Synopsis: “Bumbling dad Trevor tries to get the best of a cunning bee while house-sitting a posh mansion – but only unleashes more chaos in this comedy series.”

Man Vs Bee has ten episodes planned for its season; it will need to be a well-paced escalation of comedic absurdity, as the base premise of a man trying to kill a bee seems a little thin to carry a full ten episodes. Obviously, there will be more to Trevor’s life and circumstances that will get pulled into the conflict he has with the bee – the trailer already hints as much, right from the start.

The trailer opens with Trevor in a court having to answer for all the chaos and destruction that will unfold, as the bee fight moves out of the house into the surrounding community. A sizzle reel of footage shows action sequences like a car chase; Trevor burning down the house with a flamethrower; and all kinds of physical comedy slapstick. So, given some good editing work, there is no doubt that Man Vs Bee could fill ten episodes, as each episode sees Trevor pull off a single Wile E. Coyote-style scheme to get the bee, only to fail and fail again. The escalation of that frustration (plus outside aggravation) could eventually (and hilariously) push Trevor to a Joker-esque point of going psychotic. 

Rowan Atkinson looks like he’s having fun in this new series, which is a very good thing. Atkinson was unabashed in his fatigue with playing Mr. Bean. As the actor told UK’s Radio Times, “I don’t much enjoy playing him. The weight of responsibility is not pleasant. I find it stressful and exhausting, and I look forward to the end of it.”

Atkinson will also appear in the upcoming prequel film Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet. 

Man Vs Bee will start streaming on Netflix on June 24th.