Narrowly avoiding the cringe-inducing sight of middle-aged adults crammed into tiny shorts being played by someone else, the Netflix revival of Wet Hot American Summer has begun filming with nearly all of its original cast showing up. As Deadline reports, that includes not only The State alumni Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, Joe Lo Truglio, and Ken Marino, but also those whose participation was somewhat in question, owing to the fact that they’re big-shot TV and movie stars now—people like Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, and Elizabeth Banks. All of them are expected to appear in the eight-episode limited series, alongside other returning faces like Janeane Garofalo, Christopher Meloni, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Jon Benjamin(’s voice, anyway), Zak Orth, Marisa Ryan, Judah Friedlander, A.D. Miles, Marguerite Moreau, Kevin Sussman…. Ira Stevenberg…. Sol Zimmerstein… uhhhh…. David Ben-Gurion. And so on.
There’s no word yet on exact plot details, though it’s long been said that the plan is for a Wet Hot American Summer prequel, with all of the actors playing younger versions of their already-way-too-young roles. With production underway and things moving fast, it seems like we’ll learn more in due time. It isn’t about the plot, anyway. Well, it is. But see if you can follow me here, it… isn’t.
You are ready for the new way.