Will Forte Says 'Chances Are Slim' For MacGruber Season 2, But Will 'Never Count It Out' [Exclusive]
MacGruber has survived a lot since the character first debuted on "Saturday Night Live" in 2007. The "MacGyver"-like antihero has been blown to bits by exploding bombs countless times, distracted by everything from his grandma-turned-fiance (Betty White) to wild COVID-era conspiracy theories. He lost his wife (Maya Rudolph) seconds after they got married, got out of some tricky situations with the help of a creatively-placed stalk of celery, and faced down villains played by Val Kilmer and Billy Zane, among others.
But it's unclear at this point if MacGruber will survive his greatest foe yet: the increasingly crowded streaming era. /Film's Ethan Anderton interviewed "MacGruber" co-creator and star Will Forte ahead of his role in the Sundance film "Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out." During the conversation, the comedian revealed that the show's fate doesn't look super-promising, but also notes that MacGruber has beat the odds before.
"I would say chances are, I want to say slim," Forte told /Film when asked about the chances of a second season for the Peacock series. "I mean, I would say that I think they would've told us by now, but at the same time, you cannot ever count out MacGruber." It's true: the character's return in 2021 came over a decade after a "MacGruber" movie that was widely considered a bomb, making just $9.3 million globally at the box office on a reported budget of $10 million. "Who would've ever thought we'd have gotten a chance to do a season after the movie tanked?" Forte muses.
Never underestimate MacGruber
Peacock just got into the streaming business in 2020, but the NBC Universal streamer has already nixed a few of its most interesting shows, like "The Lost Symbol," "Saved By The Bell," "Rutherford Falls," and "Queer as Folk." There was never an official cancellation announcement for "MacGruber, though. Will Forte says he and the rest of the team behind the show — including co-creators John Solomon and Jorma Taccone and co-stars Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe — just want the chance to get together one more time. "There are just so many people on the crew behind the scenes that are such a part of it, the names that people don't know but are instrumental in the lifeblood of this thing," Forte shares. "It's a big family that we would love to all be together again."
The fact that Peacock has stayed mum about the status of "MacGruber" makes it easy to believe that, despite everything stacked against it, the show might still come back for one more round of chaotic comedy. "I would never count it out," Forte says. "We just need to wait for the right time. And there's a very good chance that it'll never happen again. Or we find some way to make it happen again, which would just be a huge blessing." It sounds like Peacock has a metaphorical choice between two different-colored wires; hopefully, they cut the right one and let "MacGruber" have one last ride.
Either way, Forte sounds grateful for everything the team has done so far. "We didn't think we'd get to do this last season," he says, "so anything else will just be gravy on gravy."