Turner & Hooch’s Matt Nix Breaks Down the Show’s Exciting Action Homages Ranging From Die Hard to Taken

Turner & Hooch is currently releasing new episodes on Disney+ on Wednesdays, and the series is more than just a follow-up to the 1989 movie of the same name. While Josh Peck plays the son of Tom Hanks’ character from the original, the new show brings a lot of new and fun elements to the story about a U.S. Marshal and his trusty Bordeaux Mastiff. The series is an action-comedy at its core, and it features many delightful tributes to iconic action movies of the past. The show’s second episode is an especially fun homage to Die Hard. Recently, ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with the show’s executive producer, Matt Nix, and he talked about the action tributes and teased an upcoming Taken-themed episode.

“Well, it was a couple things,” Nix replied when we asked about making the show’s second episode all about Die Hard. “One was literally they were early on, backing up. They picked us up straight to series and so you kind of have to be able to pitch some episodes when they’re thinking about doing that and you haven’t shot a pilot yet and stuff like that. Literally, I had a meeting and I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve got to come up with eight episodes right now.’ One of the things that I’ve done a lot on shows is just what would be really fun for me to see. ‘What do I want to do? What have I always fantasized about doing?’ I was a huge Die Hard fan. The first thing that popped into my head when I was like ‘Let’s think of episodes’ was ‘What if John McClane had had a dog? What would have happened?’”

“That was part of it,” Nix continued. “Then the other part of it was basically for the second episode, it is a little bit weird to do a very special episode for your second episode. At the same time though, and I talked about this with everybody … I want to send the message to the audience, ‘Hey guys, we’re having fun. We’re not making a documentary about police dogs. We understand that this is Turner & Hooch. It’s a bit of nostalgia kick. That’s part of the reason that you’re watching this. We understand it’s based on an old movie. Guess what? The second episode also based on an old movie. We totally got that.’”

“Over the course of this season, last [week] was In the Line of Fire. The Taken episode is truly the closest to episode two in terms of the stuff we do. I have to say that episode, it turned out so well. My daughter was like ‘Dad, I really don’t want you to be sad when I say this, but this is my favorite thing you’ve ever done and I know you had other shows and stuff like that, but this episode is the best thing you’ve ever done.’ I was like, ‘All right, that’s good to know. Having your brothers was also nice,’” Nix joked.

Stay tuned for more from our interview with Matt Nix, which you can watch at the top of the page.

Turner & Hooch releases new episodes on Disney+ on Wednesdays.