After years of infrequent film appearances, Mike Myers is returning to comedy in a new six-episode Netflix series called The Pentaverate. If the teaser, which debuted on Wednesday, is any indication, it’ll be the sort of film in which Myers plays eight distinct personas, according to Deadline.
Comedians Ken Jeong, Keegan-Michael Key, and Jennifer Saunders feature in the program, which will premiere on May 5th. It revolves around the Pentaverate, a mysterious and perhaps world-controlling secret society. It was created by five people who were stigmatized as heretics after learning that the Black Plague was caused by fleas and rats, according to the voice-over in the video, which you can see below (which explains all the plague doctor masks).
The show’s idea was inspired by a joke in another Myers film, So I Married an Axe Murderer. You can see the scene below (don’t worry, no axe murders are involved – only Colonel Sanders defamation).
Mike Myers hasn’t directed a comedic movie in a long time, and this is the first significant piece he’s written since 2008’s The Love Guru, in which he wrote and starred in various roles. Since then, he’s been in a few films, like Inglourious Basterds and 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody and Terminal, but they’re not quite the same as, say, the Austin Powers films.
Netflix has been on a roll lately, with shows like Space Force starring Steve Carell, Red Notice featuring The Rock, Ritu Arya, and Ryan Reynolds, and The Adam Project, which premiered last week (starring Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, and Ryan Reynolds).
It reminds me of the time in 2014 when Netflix purchased four Adam Sandler films and then claimed that they were so popular that they needed to buy four more. I’m not trying to cast aspersions on Myers’ project before it hits theaters (please don’t hurt me, Myers Stans; I loved The Spy Who Shagged Me and Shrek), but it appears that Netflix is following a similar strategy of enlisting comedy stars from the 1990s and early 2000s to create content in the vein of their previous successes.
Hey, it’s had to do something to keep people interested while raising costs and considering charging individuals to disclose passwords.
