In Netflix’s beyond amazing prequel series to Wet Hot American Summer the movie, solidly parent-age actors including Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, and Amy Poehler play puka shell necklace-wearing summer camp counselors at least half their age. Today, the streaming service announced a second follow-up series to the movie, in which the action will pick up ten years after the film ended. Which means the franchise’s timeline is hitting Star Wars-like levels of “huh.” But then a clear plotline isn’t one of the reasons you watch a show in which a man morphs into a talking soup-can during a toxic waste accident.
This new series, sensibly titled Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, takes its cue from a suggestion made by Ben, Bradley Cooper’s character, at the end of the cult movie: “Let’s all promise that in 10 years from today, we’ll meet again, and we’ll see what kind of people we’ve blossomed into.” And since the movie and first Netflix season were set in 1981 (evidence: everything about the fictional musical titled “Electric City”), this means season two will kick off in 1991. Get ready for bigger hair, bigger sweaters, and at least one character’s mind-body-and-soul transformation after discovering Kurt Cobain.
The cast is yet to be confirmed, but the first season’s director/writer and co-writer, David Wain and Michael Showalter, are both signed on. The eight episodes are set to drop some time in 2017. You’d better make it your beeswax to be there on time.
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Text Alice Newell-Hanson