Anna Daniels
Let’s start with this: a MacGruber TV series still has not officially been given a greenlight. But Will Forte, who originated the MacGuyver-inspired character on Saturday Night Live and reprised the role in the 2010 feature film, says that development is continuing on schedule, and the scripts for the eight-episode TV season are nearly complete.
Last night, Forte joined the cast of his cancelled Fox sitcom The Last Man on Earth for a virtual reunion online, and the topic of the MacGruber show came up. Here’s his update about the progress of the show, via Collider:
“Right now we are finishing the last scripts of an eight-episode series of MacGruber, which fingers crossed will be shot in the fall. We don’t officially know that we’re greenlit yet, but we’re very excited about the stuff we’ve written so far, and so far we’re going ahead as if it’s still going on. But who knows, with the current situation in the world, who knows if it gets pushed back. And everything could always just go kaput as per MacGruber, but it’s something we’re hoping to do and moving towards.”
Early this year, reports stated that the potential show had found a home at Peacock, the upcoming streaming service from NBCUniversal. But since the project still hasn’t officially received a go-ahead order yet, it sounds like Peacock may have just hired Forte, John Solomon, and Jorma Taccone to write the scripts before committing to put the series into production. Here’s the synopsis for the show:
In ‘MacGruber,’ after rotting in prison for over a decade, America’s ultimate hero and uber patriot MacGruber (played by Forte) is finally released. His mission: to take down a mysterious villain from his past—Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth. With the entire world in the crosshairs, MacGruber, Vicki, and Piper must race against time to defeat the forces of evil, only to find that evil may be lurking within.
Taccone, who directed the movie (which bombed theatrically but quickly developed a cult following), explained early last year that the cast from the film was back on board for this follow-up – and apparently that includes Val Kilmer, whose character will have “half a head” in the show since he was eviscerated at the end of the movie.
If you’d like a small tease about what to expect from the relationship between MacGruber and Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig) in the show, Forte acted out a snippet of dialogue with Jimmy Fallon last year.
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