Lisa Kudrow will lead Taika Waititi’s Time Bandits series on Apple TV+
Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, and Iain Morris will co-write the Time Bandits series led by Lisa Kudrow
Aux News Taika Waititi
Finally, some good news: Lisa Kudrow was cast in a Taika Waititi production, per Deadline. It’s the kind of pairing that you might not have seen coming but feels exciting and deeply correct. This isn’t just any old production, either, but Waititi’s television adaptation of Time Bandits, Terry Gilliam’s beloved adventure film, for Apple TV+.
The logline for the series will sound familiar to those who’ve seen the film: It’s “a comedic journey through time and space with a ragtag group of thieves and their newest recruit: an 11-year-old history nerd.” (In the film, the thieves are a group of dwarves who have stolen a map from “the Supreme Being” that allows them to travel to different historical eras.)
Not many further details about the plot have been released. According to Deadline, Kudrow has been cast as “Penelope,” a character seemingly invented for the series. Young protagonist Kevin will be played by Kal-El Tuck. The cast also includes Charlene Yi as “Judy,” Tadhg Murphy as “Alto,” Roger Jean Nsengiyumva as “Widgit,” Rune Temte as “Bittelig,” Kiera Thompson as “Saffron,” and Rachel House as “Fianna.”
Waititi—whose success in television includes producing What We Do In The Shadows, Reservation Dogs, and Our Flag Means Death—will co-write the series and direct the first two episodes. His frequent collaborator Jemaine Clement is on-board as co-writer alongside Iain Morris. Garrett Basch and Handmade Films will executive produce alongside Waititi, Clement, and Morris.
The ten-episode series has been in development since 2019, but now that the main cast is set, production must really be set in motion. Next up is the delicious opportunity to cast some cool guest stars as historical figures (portrayed in the film by a murderer’s row of stars that includes Sean Connery, Ian Holm, John Cleese, Michael Palin, and Shelley Duvall). Drop your dream casts now!
38 Comments
Don’t you look at her like that!
“Charlene Yi” should be “Charlyne Yi”.I’m just going to assume that “Penelope” is a code name and Lisa Kudrow has been cast in the role of Evil until shown otherwise.Someone really named their son Kal-El? That’s setting the bar kind of high, isn’t it?I find the lack of dwarves in the cast disturbing.
Nicholas Cage’s son is Kal-El too.
Okay, but when a sentence starts “Nicolas Cage” what follows is 60% less surprising.
Lisa Kudrow is a goddess on Earth
I prefer the actress who played Ursula.
She’s our generation’s Teri Garr.So yeah, pretty much like you said.
Teri Garr played her mother on Friends!
No. NO!Oh Taika no. Just… leave it alone.
I’m on the fence about this as well. IMO Time Bandits doesn’t need to be remade/retold/reimagined BUT it being done by Taika and his creative team, I’ll wait to see it before I start crying “You ruined my childhood” cause I was the same age as Kevin in the movie.
Jolly Good!
Jason Momoa as Jesus Christ
Closer than anyone else wo’s played hm. I still choose Danny DeVito.
Willem Dafoe was the ultimate Jesus and he’ll never be surpassed
As long as it isn’t Harry Styles.
This definitely helps the assertion I made over the summer (and that most friends & family didn’t understand): Thor: Love & Thunder was inspired by Terry Gilliam films, such as Time Bandits.
That makes a lot of sense, actually.
WELL SHE GOT IT!
Like, she’s going to play Randall? Or Kevin?
Fuck this is a bad idea.
If only the article you’re commenting on answered those questions.
How dare you ask someone on the internet to read past the headline!
That was, frankly, rude of me, and I apologize profusely.
Well, Randall was the leader of the group. Can you point me to where the article says whether or not Kudrow is the leader of the group? There is a character named Widget, but no Randall.
If only the article I’m commenting on answered that question This is still a bad idea.
“According to Deadline, Kudrow has been cast as “Penelope,” a character seemingly invented for the series.”
Is this anything anyone ever asked for or wanted? I suppose the answer is always going to be, “Is there anything that Hollywood can’t get their hands on and just ‘reboot’”.
I guess this is my weekly “why can’t they write new stories” comment.
They’re just givin Gen Z what they want— remakes of early 80’s British fantasy films! The kids of today got a fever, and the only prescription is more Terry Gilliam!
That Hawk the Slayer reboot is going to be lit.
I had a HS English teacher thirty years ago who was convinced that The Adventures of Baron Munchausen would have a post-release second life revival on par with The Wizard of Oz, so if he’s still alive he should be pretty happy he may have ultimately been right…
Young protagonist Kevin will be played by Kal-El Tuck.
Look, I love Superman. He was my first superhero and the first comic book character that I plunked down allowance money to subscribe to his comic book, which I’d look forward to getting out of the mailbox every month.But no, parents, just don’t. The best case scenario is you end up with a raging asshole middle manager with the name Kal-El, weirdly sullying the name of a character you apparently love.
Unless you’re a multi-millionaire celebrity, whose kids will attend school with other celebrities kids with their own ridiculous names, there’s a cap to how stupid you can get with this stuff.
I used to work with a Jorel and I was never sure if he was named for Superman’s dad or not.
At first I thought that he might be Nicholas Cage’s son as he is also called Kal-El.
Look at you out here gatekeeping names.
Does the devil (or whatever) show up in that movie?Penelope is the devil.
David Warner(RIP) played the Devil character in the movie.
Ehh…I’m still waiting for the Wool series to actually get a premier date.
should be interesting to see how they de-age her to 11.
Ughh, Taika David Cohen about to ruin a classic film with his lame “comedy”