‘Wet Hot American Summer’ Series Teaser Confirms Casting
UPDATE: Netflix announced on Monday that Wet Hot American Summer will premiere on July 17th, while season three of Orange Is the New Black will debut on June 12th.
Cult film comedy Wet Hot American Summer is returning as a limited, eight-episode series this summer on Netflix. And while it was rumored that most of the original cast would be onboard for the long-awaited project, fans can officially breathe a sigh of relief. The newly released teaser trailer reveals the Camp Firewood return of Elizabeth Banks, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Judah Friedlander, Janeane Garofalo, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Christopher Meloni, Marguerite Moreau, Zak Orth, Amy Poehler, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Rudd, Molly Shannon and Michael Showalter.
Though the teaser lacks major plot details, one crucial aspect stands out: the show’s title. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp is a prequel (confirming Marino’s previous comments to Rolling Stone), since the original 2001 film was set on the last day of camp that same summer in 1981. In keeping with the movie, David Wain will direct the series, co-writing the episodes with Showalter.
The Wet Hot film featured numerous cast members – Wain, Showalter, Marino, Black and Lo Truglio – from the cult MTV sketch comedy series The State. Many from the movie’s supporting cast would go on to mainstream success in the subsequent decade – including Rudd, Poehler, Meloni, Banks and Cooper, who made his film debut as Ben in Wet Hot. Despite the film’s box office belly-flop and scathing reviews (a 31 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes), it drew a gradual cult following through DVD sales.
After Netflix announced the series revival earlier this month, a new Wet Hot Twitter account began sharing on-set photos. Various cast members have also tweeted their excitement about the project: “It’s on like Donkey Kong bc Donkey Kong happened in 1981, just like this movie,” Lo Truglio wrote.