Netflix Reviving ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ for Eight-Episode Series
After giving new life to Arrested Development, Netflix revealed that they are now reviving another cult comedy: Wet Hot American Summer, the all-star 2001 film that absurdly captured the last days of summer at Camp Firewood in 1981, will return to Netflix as a limited series. “It’s true, camp is back in session. #WetHotAmericanSummer will return for 8 all new episodes,” Netflix’s official Twitter alerted followers Friday night, with the film’s director David Wain retweeting the message.
According to Deadline, nearly the entire original cast is returning for the eight-episode series, with filming set to begin this week. Wet Hot American Summer, inspired by the filmmakers’ own summertime experiences, was an homage to camp comedies like Meatballs. Despite making less than $2 million at the box office, the comedy gained a massive audience when it was released on DVD.
At the time of the movie’s limited release in 2001, Wet Hot American Summer was known was “The State movie,” an extension of the cult MTV comedy sketch show that starred Wain and Wet Hot actors Michael Showalter, Ken Marino, Michael Ian Black and Joe Lo Truglio. However, many of Wet Hot‘s supporting cast went on to enjoy greater success in the decade that followed: Amy Poehler, Christopher Meloni, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks and Bradley Cooper, whose first film role was as talent show coordinator “Ben” in Wet Hot.
Deadline reports that all of those actors, plus original cast members David Hyde Pierce, Janeane Garofalo, Molly Shannon, Marguerite Moreau and even those comedians that had cameo roles – Judah Friedlander as Shannon’s ex-husband and Archer‘s H. Jon Benjamin lending his signature voice to a can of mixed vegetables – are all returning. Wain will once again direct the series based off a script he and Showalter wrote.
After Netflix revealed they were relaunching Wet Hot American Summer, a new Twitter account tied to the series began sharing set photos. Many of the film’s stars have also tweeted about their return to Camp Firewood. Marino, who played horny camp counselor Victor Pulak in the film, tweeted “I hope Abby Bernstein’s still waiting for me,” a nod to his lovelorn plotline. “It’s on like Donkey Kong bc Donkey Kong happened in 1981, just like this movie,” Lo Truglio wrote, linking to a story about Wet Hot‘s return.
No other details about the series have been announced, so we don’t know if the series picks back up in the Eighties, 14 years after the movie took place – which would make it 1995 – or if the series is the rumored prequel that Marino previously mentioned in an interview with Rolling Stone.