Peacock has released the first trailer and images for MacGruber, the upcoming comedy series featuring Will Forte as the titular super spy. Created by The Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone for a Saturday Night Live sketch, the parody of the classic show MacGyver is being picked up for an eight-episode season, more than a decade after a movie of the same name failed to reach box office expectations back in 2010.
The new trailer set the tone for the upcoming series, presenting the public to the highly-decorated U.S. agent MacGruber, who was sent to prison after being charged for a series of murders. Presented in the shape of a documentary, the trailer interviews the agent in prison while describing the ludicrous actions of Forte’s spy, such as ripping the tongues of his enemies and urinating on their bodies. The ultraviolence of MacGruber’s previous sketches and movie contrast with the serious tone of the fake documentary, underlining how the exaggerated humor that made MacGruber famous when he first showed up in SNL will still be present for the upcoming show.
While MacGruber’s displays of violence led him to prison, Forte’s character angrily says that once something threatens America, people will be quick to get him out of prison, so he can take care of the new menace. That’s exactly what’s going to happen in the upcoming series, as a new villain (Billy Zane) holds the whole world hostage and MacGruber is the only man who can stop the madman.
John Solomon, Taccone, and Forte serve as writers, executive producers, and showrunners of MacGruber. Solomon and Taccone direct all episodes. Lorne Michaels, John Goldwyn, Andrew Singer, and Erin David are also executive producers. MacGruber also stars Kristen Wiig as Vicki St. Elmo, Ryan Phillippe as Dixon Piper, Sam Elliott as Perry, Laurence Fishburne as General Barrett Fasoose, Zane as Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth, Joseph Lee Anderson as Major Harold Kernst, and Timothy V. Murphy as Constantine Bach.
All episodes of MacGruber come exclusively to Peacock on Thursday, December 16. You can check both the red band and the safe-for-work trailers of the MacGruber series below, along with first-look images of new and returning characters:
Here’s MacGruber’s TV show synopsis:
After rotting in prison for over a decade, America’s ultimate hero and uber patriot MacGruber (Will Forte) is finally released. His mission: to take down a mysterious villain from his past—Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth (Billy Zane). With the entire world in the crosshairs, MacGruber must reassemble his old team, Vicki St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig) and Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe), in order to defeat the forces of evil.
