Starz officially green lights the Party Down revival
Are we having fun yet? Yes we are, now that Party Down's returning with six episodes
Aux News Party Down
Are we having fun yet? Well, we’re about to, because Starz officially gave the green-light to bring back Party Down! Rob Thomas’ decision to work on a Party Down revival was initially announced back in March of this year, and now Starz announced that the beloved series returns with six episodes.
Rob Thomas returns as executive producer, alongside John Enbom, Paul Rudd, Dan Etheridge, and Adam Scott (who’ll also reprise his role as Henry). And speaking of the cast, fans don’t have to worry about missing out on seeing many their favorite characters again. Ken Marino, Martin Starr, Ryan Hansen, Megan Mullally, and Jane Lynch are reprising their roles.
One name that’s noticeably absent is Lizzy Caplan, though. The actor hasn’t released a statement yet on why she won’t be returning to play Casey—but getting most of the cast back is more than what fans expected, anyway. She’s likely not returning because she was just cast in Paramount+’s Fatal Attraction series.
It would also be a great time to bring back Jennifer Coolidge as Bobbie St. Brown, though she’s currently busy working on the second season of HBO’s White Lotus.
And yes, it looks like the gang’s still working at Party Down, minding their RDDs. In a statement, Jeffrey Hirsch, the President and CEO of Starz says, “After more than 10 years, we’re excited to have the cast, many of whom are now hugely popular award-winning stars, return to don their pink bowties and head back to the party.”
He adds, “The fan demand for a Party Down revival is clear and we look forward to what Rob, Paul, John, Dan and now Adam will do as they bring this special project and these hilarious characters back to life.”
The show is expected to begin production in 2022.
Fans had been asking for Thomas to make a movie to bring back the characters, just like he initially did with Veronica Mars. But a six-episode miniseries is far better than that. This idea for a revival had been in the works for a while, with the show’s creators announcing at Vulture Festival in 2019 that they were looking into bringing the show back in some form.
99 Comments
Fuckin’ A.
I love all the actors, but I couldn’t get through the first episode
You were right to stop; the first fifteen minutes of a pilot is always representative of a show’s entire run.
Great summation of what I said, thanks
FWIW I was the same way when I first came across the show (I HATED the “I don’t want you serving them two jiggers” gag). I stuck to it on the advice of some friends. The pilot is noticeably weaker than the rest of the series. Now it’s an all-timer for me.
its very good, if you like understated comedy, like Arrested Development and the IT Crowd. You’ll have to think a little to appreciate this one.
I urge you to try it again.
I love all the actors too and I loved the characters and I loved the scenarios the characters were placed in and I loved the lines the characters said but I couldn’t get past the first episode either.
I love all the actors, did not love the characters, did not love the scenarios the characters were placed in, and did not love the lines the characters said.
Well, I guess I can put my noose back in the box for another Christmas.
I only can hope that Megan Mullally/Lydia’s daughter Escapade is now a famous Hollywood actress. Also, I hope this means that J.K. Simmons is coming back.
Considering Escapade was played by Kaitlyn Dever who actually did go on to be a famous actress, this would be kinda awesome
Whoa, I never knew this til now!
This. No Party Down without Leonard.
Mullally AND Lynch? That’s fantastic…didn’t one of them kind of slot in for the other during the run? I know I should watch “The Other Two” but Ken Marino has largely been in things that I have missed since the Veronica Mars revival so it will be good to see him again
Yeah Mullaley replaced Lynch in season 2. Glad they’re both coming back. Caplan missing is a huge miss though.
No surprise, since she got all famous afterwards. Ideally, they could get her for one episode and the crew could cater a party at her big fancy Hollywood house.
Yeah, that is the *only* way I can see her being on the show. But, really, that’s not a bad tie-in and solution to the fame problem. I’d be happy to see her having been successful. Apt.
She got famous for a brief minute and is now back to being only kinda famous.
Yeah, Mullally stepped in when Jane Lynch started in on Glee.
Would highly recommend watching Black Monday, which features a pretty killer cast (including Marino)!My roommate loves Wet Hot American Summer, and I introduced him to Party Down during the early days of the pandemic. Afterward, we decided to dig through Marino’s other TV credits, and Black Monday was a great find for us!
Party Down was one of my favorites. I look forward to the revival, but hope its a better attempt than the Arrested Development redux.
WTF is Starz lol
Now this is the real revival to get behind.
A disaster of American Gods proportions, why do you ask?
That’s a shot of pure nostalgia.
Excellent comment. – kath, sydney, Australia, 1 day ago
Its that channel with 40 spinoffs of 50 cent’s show.
This is a Ron Donald “Do.”
Fine. As long as it’s hard sci-fi this time.
I hope Steve Guttenberg has signed on to executive produce Roman’s script.
I wonder if he published his novel written on the toilet paper scroll.
Script gets greenlit but becomes more “fantasy bullshit” with gradual studio notes, like Paul Scheer’s character’s script. I see it.
I head there was going to be a dragon in one of the episodes, so…
Martin Starr is so good in that role. It’s downright scary how today’s toxic angry nerds have caught up to Roman’s character.
Between his characters in Party Down and Silicon Valley, Martin Starr sure has his finger on the pulse of unpleasant nerd culture. I guess that’s a good thing?
There were always toxic angry nerds, it’s just that they’re more visible now.
Martin Starr is so good in that role It was hilarious and heartbreaking at that porn party: the woman is everything he desires, and she’s into him, but… damn it, she doesn’t appreciate hard s-f…!
Martin Starr is so good in that role. One might say he’s…
That’s what she said.
It’s only ‘hard’ if Lizzy Caplan is involved.
Perhaps he can pitch a story where a revolutionary compression algorithm and a possibly-Satanic artificial intelligence accidently create a runaway synergy that threatens the very concept of computer security/privacy, and only a plucky band of nerds who created it can try to stop it.
I’m not sure I understand how this compression algorithm works. Perhaps you could explain it to me in a fun, visually illustrative, and massively perverted way that would make more sense.
Picture, if you will, an auditorium full of erect penises.
What’s crazy is that I was already picturing that. Convenient!
Only if one of them is Ron Donald’s monster.
That’s FANTASY
OMFG! I never thought this would happen. Was one of my favorite shows.
*yawn*
Hard pass.
2 things:1) Caplan’s got to return. She and Adam Scott had killer chemistry and had a great way of letting each other down. 2) I thought White Lotus wasn’t repeating characters? I love Coolidge but Natasha Rothwell better be on the repeats list.
I believe Coolidge is the only character (or at least the only guest) returning, which I think makes sense for the character.
I’m excited for this. But if they’re all still catering I hope it’s not a super depressing sad-comedy now
Yeah, the writing is going to have to be pretty sharp to overcome the “a shitty job in your 20’s is a bummer; still having that shitty job in your forties means your life is just shitty” problem, also known as the Kevin Smith.
Scheduling sucks but hopefully they can at least get Caplan in for one episode, even just a scene or two. Maybe she’s the one who made it and they’re working an event for her or something. Either that or break the fourth wall and recast her and have a bunch of comments about how much she’s changed etc.
I know a TV series in terms of time commitment isn’t nothing, but it is a damn shame she couldn’t squeeze this in as well because she and Adam Scott were fantastic, plus I have had a mega-crush on her after Masters of Sex.
Don’t make me fight you for her (extremely unlikely) love and affection!
I did a studio tour in LA years ago and the tour guide pointed out where the Masters of Sex production office was located, and I asked the guide if Lizzy Caplan ever walked around there and he said frequently, and I replied “I’d really like to meet her” or something to that effect, but I must have hit the “really” a little harder than I intended, because I saw his smile fade a little like “uh oh, another Caplan stalker.” LOL
“Maybe she’s the one who made it and they’re working an event for her or something.”
This is the ideal scenario.
So did Soup ‘R Crackers not work out?
Ron finally got his franchise and it had its grand opening January of 2020
Guaranteed this is where they take it.
Didn’t that open and fail in between seasons 1 & 2? Or was that a different business?
When they set a date, I will know the next time I’ll subscribe to a month of Starz!
I love the show, it’s one of my all-time favorites, but I feel like you can’t do it without Caplan. The Henry/Casey dynamic is so fascinating and such a neat take on the usual will-they/won’t-they trope and it’ll be a shame to lose that chemistry
So long as Martin Starr attends another Russian mafia event I’m down. Okay just anything with Martin Starr and I’ll be happy.
During my binge of Parks & Rec I noticed one day that Adam Scott’s mouth is proportionally way too small for the rest of his head – he looks like some sort of anime character – and now that I’ve seen it, I can’t stop seeing it.
You think that’s bad, try watching multiple series with Damien Lewis.Adam does have a gigantic head though—he’s the very “walking candy apple” Elaine was describing.
I would like to see a show someday where Adam Scott and Tig Notaro play close relatives.
I would like to see a show someday where Adam Scott and Tig Notaro play close relatives.Or each other.
I would like to see a show someday where Adam Scott and Tig Notaro play close relatives.Or each other.
https://streamable.com/p0foeqedit: ugh, was hoping that would embed better, here’s an imgur i guess
this is supposed to be a video clip of the scene in Party Down when Jennifer Coolidge tells Adam Scott that his face is “kind of pinched and forward… like a sphincter.”
I’ve noticed the same thing about Ryan Reynolds.
Hey! Everybody!! LOUIE!!! *presents two golf balls*
Imagining Party Down without Lizzy Caplan is difficult. Party Down is overall pretty bleak but the sliver of optimism that people can find happiness and success keeps the show moving. A revival where everyone is 10 years older and still stuck sounds depressing as hell.
I want Lizzy Caplan’s character to have moved on, but I’d also much rather watch a revival with Caplan and without Scott than vice versa. It’s a conundrum.
Party Down 2: Party Up
Party up stupid!
2Party2Down
The answer to “are we having fun yet?” is now yes.
Party Down inspired me to try working in catering when I was struggling for a job post college and with the effects of the Great Recession still rippling through the job market. This is to say I hope it’s good, but that was a show that really exists in a specific time in my life. I also doubt I’ll suddenly pick up Starz but may eventually find a way to watch the new season at some point.
As much as I liked the show I liked how it ended with the idea that maybe things were about to change for the characters. I don’t want to see them and find out that they all failed again and are still stuck.
“The coke was so good back then.”
Party Down’s situation comedy situation (multiple settings, with the cast doing the same job at each) was just genius. Each episode had fresh, funny things about it, while exploring the various relationships, familiar ones among the regular cast and new ones among the employers and guests at each party.I mean, it helped that it was well written and well acted, but I think it would be really hard to mess up that premise.
Just from a production standpoint it was ingenious to create a show that could be shot almost entirely in rented event spaces.
Technically this is the 2nd revival. Just sayin’.
So true. TBH I’d rather have another season of Children’s Hospital than PD.And while we’re discussing shows with many of the same cast members… another season of the criminally underappreciated Burning Love would be terrific too.
I feel like CH got more than enough episodes. It was getting weaker towards the end. Hell, it even got its own spin-off show, Medical Police. I love CH, but it was definitely not cut short.
Oh, I don’t disagree. But (IMO) Party Down’s premise was simpler and pretty much fully explored by the time it ended. The only thing left to show is “where did the characters end up?”, and… I guess I don’t care very much.CH was “anything goes”, so it’s easy to imagine new directions (or old directions reimagined in strange ways) for the show to explore.
Could be right, could be right. I’m less concerned about the premise, and more concerned about the comedy, but I’m not sure we aren’t talking about the same thing, if by premise, you mean “ways to keep the comedy fresh”.
It’s always hard to tell how much creative juice is left in a show cut short. Unfortunately, revivals are rarely as good as the originals.
I’m glad, after so long teasing the idea, they finally committed to this. It’s like Peter Fonda told me on the set of Easy Rider: “You should be committed.”
Damnit. I loved Party Down. But I have heard nightmare stories of people trying to unsubscribe to the Starz streaming service and just being charged endlessly month after month.
I got Starz through Amazon’s Prime Day promotion and it stopped when I told it to do so. I haven’t heard of anyone having trouble ending theirs, but if you’re concerned maybe get it through Amazon, Hulu or some other third-party biller.
It’s probably for the best that Lizzy Caplan won’t be returning, since it seems likely that she’d just be inexplicably killed off in the closing minutes of the final episode, canceling out any and all good will that the previous episodes had built up.I mean, it is a Rob Thomas revival after all.
The fact that all of these characters would still be working for Party Down makes this already depressing show way, way too depressing to want to revisit.
So happy for this news. Now if we can have a revival of Happy Endings as well i can safely pretend that i’m living in the early ‘10s.
I imagine a storyline where Henry is roped back into doing his “Are we having fun yet?” bit for a nostalgic commercial featuring other mascots.
Maybe for the Super Bowl!