More ‘Wet Hot American Summer’ Could Happen, Showrunner Says – TCA

“If everyone wants to do it, we’ll do it,” Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp’s showrunner/co-star Michael Showalter said today at TCA of another installment of the Netflix series based on the cult movie. “The time commit for this cast is quite accommodating,” he said of the prequel series, which premieres on Friday. “The feeling is we are interested in creating an environment that is easy for people being able to say yes.”

Originally in the 2001 movie, Ant-Man himself Paul Rudd, Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Christopher Meloni, Michael Ian Black and Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler and Bradley Cooper are also all in the prequel – all playing teenage camp counselors. Josh Charles, Jon Hamm, John Slattery, Lake Bell, Chris Pine, Jason Schwartzman and Kristen Wiig make their debut in the eight-episode teen comedy set in 1981.

While House Of Cards’ Beau Willimon and Orange Is The New Black’s Jenji Kohan weren’t onstage for the Netflix showrunners panel, it was pretty much the rest of the streaming services’ TV A-team at the Beverly Hilton. Club De Cuervos’ Gaz Alazraki, BoJack Horseman’s Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Grace And Frankie’s Marta Kauffman, Bloodline’s Glenn Kessler, Marvel’s Jessica Jones’ recently named Melissa Rosenberg and former Marvel’s Daredevil EP Steven S. DeKnight joined Showalter on the panel.

“I always thought of the characters from Wet Hot American Summer as comic book characters and there is no shortage of stories we could tell about them,” Showalter noted. “If you want to do something do it, if there is a will there is a way,” the WHAS co-writer added with a smile. Netflix hasn’t made any noise yet about more Wet Hot American Summer.

Unlike the others on the panel today, DeKnight isn’t currently an active member of the streaming service’s family. The ex-Spartacus boss exited the blind superhero series soon after its 13-epsiode April 10 debut. Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez were announced as DeKnight’s replacements when Daredevil was official given the green light for a second season on April 21. In early June, DeKnight joined Paramount Pictures, Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and Hasbro’s Transformers franchise writers room to hatch new iterations of the blockbuster mechanical brand.

“I have two pom-poms and I wave them very franticly,” DeKnight joked Tuesday of his involvement in Season 2 of Daredevil. “I think it is very important for me exiting to leave the show to them,” he added, praising Petrie and Ramirez. “I can’t wait to watch the show with the rest of you.”

While Netflix doesn’t release viewership information Daredevil and Grace and Frankie are rumored to be among the top shows on the streaming service. “I barely know what metrics are,” said Kaufman to a big laugh. “We haven’t learned any of that information,” she confessed afterwards. “It’s so liberating not having to worry about the numbers,” noted DeKnight. “Ratings aren’t a measure of success anyway,” said the G&F boss. “We’re not pandering to advertisers, we’re not pandering to a network, we’re only making the show we want to make,” Kaufman added.

What has been a measure of success for Netflix is wining awards. Freshmen Grace and Frankie and Bloodline were among the 31 Emmy nominations that Netflix garnered earlier this month. The former saw an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series nom for Lily Tomlin. The latter had Kyle Chandler nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series category and Ben Mendelsohn getting an Outstanding Supporting Actor nom. It’s terrific,” said Kessler, ‘it means the pieces are working.”

Netflix gave both Grace And Frankie and Bloodline second seasons with the comedy currently in production in LA. The soccer dramedy Club de Cuervos is set to debut in early August and Jessica Jones will go up near the end of the year.