Will Forte’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) character MacGruber will be coming toNBC’s new streaming service Peacock. An 8 episode series order for the cultMacGyverparody was put in by the network and sees comic Will Forte returning to the role.
Originally a recurring sketch on SNL, each installment of MacGruber saw the “hero” trapped in a control room with his assistants, usuallyKristen Wiigas Vicki St. Elmo and a special guest, attempting to defuse a bomb before becoming distracted and inevitably caught in the explosion. A 2009 skit revealed that action TV heroMacGyverwas actually MacGruber’s father. Then they both blew up.
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MacGruber proved so popular that he got his own spinoff film in 2010, with one-timeBatman Foreverstar Val Kilmer as the villain Dieter von Cunth. But it wasn’t without controversy; Lee David Zlotoff the creator ofMacGyversent off cease and desist letters to the production team, believing a movie version ofMacGrubermight harm any film spinoffs ofMacGyver.Ultimately no legal action was brought. Though the film got mixed reviews and failed to make back its $10 million budget at the box office, it’s since been re-evaluated as a cult classic on the midnight showing circuit. EvenChristopher Nolanhas been known to quote from it.
What’s known so far about this new spinoff is that it’ll be made up of 8 half hour episodes with Will Forte back as MacGruber and Jorma Taccone returning as director. Negotiations are underway for Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe to reprise their film roles as MacGruber’s assistants Vicki St. Elmo and Dixon Piper. The series will be set after America’s ultimate hero and uber-patriot MacGruber’s release from prison and follow his new mission to take down Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth, a mysterious villain from his past. With the entire world in the crosshairs, MacGruber must race against time to defeat the forces of evil, only to find that evil may be lurking within.
MacGruberis expected to premiere on Peacock in 2021
