Netflix is bringing Wet Hot American Summer back as a miniseries

2014 NBCUniversal Upfronts

 

The then-star-unstudded but now hugely popular cast of 2001 cult classic Wet Hot American Summer have finally gotten all their day planners in order and managed to come together for the long-awaited and long-rumored prequel. David Wain and Michael Showalter, who wrote the original movie, have also penned follow-up, which will be an eight-episode miniseries available exclusively on Netflix. This reunion marks the second comedy coup for the online streamery, following the fourth season of Arrested Development the network swindled together in 2013.

Part of the joke of this particular prequel is that the cast was playing campers and camp counselors ten years younger than their actual ages in 2001. Now that it’s a prequel filming 14 years after the original (the miniseries began shooting this week), the same cast is approximately thirty years older than it should be for its roles. If you’re familiar with the first Wet Hot, or MTV’s The State, or anything Michael Ian Black ever said on I Love the 90s, then you both already knew that joke and thought it was funniest seven years ago.

So: Who’s returning for more Wet Hot fun? In alphabetical order, the following people (deep breath):  Elizabeth Banks, H. Jon Benjamin, Michael Ian Black, Bradley Cooper, Judah Friedlander, Janeane Garofalo, Nina Hellman, Joe LoTruglio, Ken Marino, Christopher Meloni,A.D. Miles, Marguerite Moreau, Zak Orth, David Hyde Pierce, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Marisa Ryan, Molly Shannon, Michael Showalter and Kevin Sussman. That’s a lot of names. And a lot of A-to-B-List talent: Banks, Cooper, Poehler, and Rudd were all unknowns in 2001, and have become rather well-known in the years since.

Speaking of jokes, one wonders if the miniseries will actually be set at a summer camp in winter. They did begin filming this week–and one can’t have a camp without outdoor shots. And, as devotees of the original film will recall, that shoot took place during warm-weather months, but was memorable for its extremely clammy, chilly weather.

We won’t have long to wait to see if the in-jokes pile on that deep: Wet Hot 2: Electric Blanket Bugaloo is due out late this year.

 
(Photo credit: WENN)


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