TV

The Blockbuster Cast of ‘Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later’

Seriously, this ensemble is stacked.
By  · Published on June 23rd, 2017

Seriously, this ensemble is stacked.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Wonder Woman aren’t the only entertainment jam-packed with Hollywood’s A-Listers this summer. Netflix is bringing a different kind of blockbuster to your TV (and computer/tablet/etc.) screen on August 4th: Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, the sequel series to the 2001 movie Wet Hot American Summer.

In its new trailer (see above), we get a peek at how each of the campers’ lives turned out 10 years after the movie ended. It’s a quick spot with a lot packed in, so we’re going to break it down character by character.

First of all, Bradley Cooper is featured at the top of the trailer. However, the footage used is from the 2001 film, not the new series. While his shooting schedule did not allow Cooper to reprise his role as Ben in the upcoming series, we can still hope for a quick cameo at some point. My guess is that the writers will justify early on why Ben is not attending the camp reunion. If they don’t, we should anticipate a walk-on role for the American Sniper himself.

It looks like Lindsay (Elizabeth Banks) has hit her stride, hosting a morning news show called “Puff Stuff.” And while she is featured early in the trailer, we never see her at Camp Firewood. Hopefully Banks will have a larger role than this trailer implies. However, with the actor/director’s busy schedule it was likely difficult to lock her down for the entire shoot.

The first we see of McKinley (Michael Ian Black) he is holding a baby we assume is his. Black shares a scene with Adam Scott, and the two share a flirtatious glance. This leads me to believe Scott will be playing Black’s secret partner. In another scene, Black is with a very preppy-looking woman (Alyssa Milano) who looks like she’d fit in more with the crowd at Camp Tigerclaw, the evil camp next door to Camp Firewood (as seen in Netflix’s 2015 prequel series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp). Black is wearing similar clothing. This makes me wonder if McKinley is married to a former Tigerclaw camper. If so, how dare he?

Coop (Michael Showalter) appears to be living in New York City. The office he is sitting in looks like a publisher’s office. Maybe Coop is a writer now? Back at camp, it looks as though his relationship with Katie (Marguerite Moreau) is still in the “will they or won’t they” phase. Their lengthy conversation toward the end of the trailer shows just how much things have stayed the same in the 10 years they have been away from the camp.

Meanwhile, Katie seems to have risen to the top of the fashion or design world, giving orders to four assistants in a lampooned West Wing­-esque walk and talk. Her maturity in the real world erodes once she returns to camp.

Ken Marino and Joe Lo Truglio’s characters, Victor and Neil, are bartenders, and Victor seems to dabble in stripping. While Victor has grown up, one thing stays the same: his tight curl perm. Never change. Like Victor’s perm, Neil hasn’t changed much either. He is still infatuated with Victor. They share nearly every frame together.

Gene (Christopher Meloni) has had a tough decade since we last saw him. He lives in a trailer and has let himself go. However, when Gail (Molly Shannon) introduces him to her daughter, a bandana sporting straight shooter, it looks as though he has found a reason for living. I would love to see Gene embrace his fatherly role and teach the girl his fighting moves.

Susie (Amy Poehler) comes back to camp in style, drinking champagne from the bottle. From the pins on her jacket, we can surmise Susie is a film actress now, or at least she is trying to be. My theory is that Susie has failed to become a success in Hollywood. She returns to camp to reclaim her top-dog status as the most talented camper, all the while keeping her failure a secret from the other campers. She also seems to have found a new love interest in the bow and arrow wielding Jai Courtney. The two share a passionate kiss.

John Early is also back as Susie’s nemesis, Logan. He has one of the few lines in the trailer, and he destroys. We can expect endless comedic conflict from the pairing of Early with Poehler.

Beth (Janeane Garofalo) is selling the camp, or at least she is trying to. This is the crux of the series, and she will definitely have many obstacles on the road to sell the camp. The pervasive presence of Tigerclaw campers in the trailer leads me to believe the owners of that camp are attempting to buy up the land Camp Firewood occupies. My guess is the campers will find a way to save the camp from being sold, or maybe a meteor will hit the camp — it’s a 50/50 chance.

Andy (Paul Rudd) has not changed in the slightest, although his hair is a bit longer, and he has a sweet goatee. Andy has a new thorn in his side, a young camper played by Skyler Gisondo who is able to best his elder in every bout of verbal sparring. Their final round leaves Andy storming off looking like he is going to cry. Watching him finally get revenge on the young camper is going to be wonderful.

The return of Chris Pine, whom we saw as reclusive musician Eric in First Day of Camp, is intriguing because he sports three distinct looks in the trailer. First he appears to be a businessman. Then he’s some kind of assassin, killing a man with two swords, and the man standing next to the target has camouflage and a secret service-type earpiece in (what is going on?!) And finally in another shot he’s got dreadlocks. We still don’t know how he survived being shot, falling off a roof, and getting run over by a jeep 10 years earlier. And now it appears Pine might be fighting Gene. My theory is Eric was working for the government all along and is now assigned to assassinate Gene. But, why? Only time will tell.

In addition to playing characters 20 years their junior, Showalter, Black, and David Wain take on the respective roles of Presidents Ronald Reagan (reprising from First Day of Camp), George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. I would love to see George H.W. Bush personally dispatch Pine’s character to assassinate Gene. As for Bill Clinton, keep playing that sax.

Also returning for the sequelI would love to see George H.W. Bush personally dispatch Pine’s character to assassinate Gene. series, which is again written by Showalter and Wain and directed by Wain, are the characters J.J. (Zak Orth), Gary (A.D. Miles), Abby (Marisa Ryan), Nancy (Nina Hellman), Courtney (Kristen Wiig), Blake (Josh Charles), Donna (Lake Bell), Greg (Jason Schwartzman), and the can of vegetables (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin). Other new additions besides Courtney, Milano, and Gisondo include Mark Feuerstein, Marlo Thomas, Dax Shepard, and Sarah Burns.

While this series will bring together a cast that could produce a crossover movie of Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, and Ant-Man, the flashy cast comes second to the comedy. Wain and Showalter are known to create classic comedies, and this new trailer shows that Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later has the potential to become another.

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