TV Shows

Netflix Announces Murderville Christmas Special

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One of Netflix’s surprise hits of 2022 is getting a new episode — just in time for the holidays. On Friday, the streaming service unveiled a trailer teaser for Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery, which will arrive on the platform next month. The fifty-minute special will be a continuation of Season 1 of Murderville, which debuted in February to a largely-positive response from fans and critics, but still has not been officially renewed for a second season. The series takes a comedic approach to murder mystery television, pairing Senior Detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) with a celebrity guest star who is tasked with improvising through the entire scenario — and as you would expect, the experience is rarely seamless throughout. For Who Killed Santa?, the guest stars will be Ozark‘s Jason Bateman and Disenchanted‘s Maya Rudolph.

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In Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery, Senior Detective Terry Seattle (Will Arnett) is back and this time, the case is critical. Along with his two celebrity guest stars, Jason Bateman and Maya Rudolph, he is on a mission to figure out…who killed Santa? But here’s the catch: Jason Bateman and Maya Rudolph aren’t being given the script. They have no idea what’s about to happen to them. Together, with Terry Seattle (and many surprises), they will have to improvise their way through the case… but it will be up to both of them to name the killer.

What is Murderville about?

Based on the BBC Three series Murder in Successville, Murderville follows Senior Detective Terry Seattle, Homicide Division. For Terry, every day means a new murder case and a new celebrity guest star as his partner. But here’s the catch: each episode’s guest star isn’t being given the script. They have no idea what’s about to happen to them. Together, the guest star and Terry Seattle will have to improvise their way through the case… but it will be up to each celebrity guest alone to name the killer. Join them as they punch a one-way ticket to Murderville. Season 1 of the series featured Conan O’Brien, Marshawn Lynch, Kumail Nanjiani, Annie Murphy, Sharon Stone, and Ken Jeong as guest stars.

“[It’s like] making Law & Order without a script,” Arnett previously told The Hollywood Reporter, “I do think people liked the idea that they could come in, they didn’t have to learn any dialogue and they could be themselves and just go for a ride. And I have to give these people credit because it’s freakin’ scary as sh-t.” 

Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery will arrive on Netflix on Thursday, December 15th.