Rian Johnson Produced Golf Comedy Series Sets Will Ferrell as Lead

Will Ferrell is set to lead a new untitled golf-based comedy TV series, Deadline has reported. Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum’s Gloria Sanchez Productions are joining hands with Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman’s T-Street Production to develop the series making it one of the biggest comedy packages in quite some time.

Per the report, the series revolves around a professional golfer, played by Ferrell, who becomes the face of a controversial new league competing with the PGA. The series is described to have a similar tone to Ferrell’s Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and will bring the actor back to the sports genre which he previously explored in features like Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro. While fictional, the story would inevitably draw parallels to the controversial LIV Golf startup.

The Series Has an Impressive Team Behind It

The comedy will mark Ferrell’s first major comedy series after his breakout success in Saturday Night Live which propelled him into movies and stardom. He was last seen on TV opposite Paul Rudd in the Apple TV+ dark comedy-drama limited series The Shrink Next Door. Interestingly, the actor is also an avid golf player and has hosted The Will Powered Golf Classic, a fundraising event benefiting Cancer for College, for the last two decades. So we can expect the new feature to draw some details from real life.

Will Ferrell Is Heading to Barbie’s World Next

He was last seen in Apple TV’s Christmas musical comedy, Spirited, a modern retelling of Charles Dickens‘ 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, where he starred as the current Ghost of Christmas Present opposite Ryan Reynolds. He’ll be next seen in Greta Gerwig’s much anticipated Barbie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. He will also star opposite Reese Witherspoon in Amazon’s upcoming wedding comedy movie You’re Cordially Invited.

Johnson and Bergman’s T-Street is currently riding high on the breakout success of Peacock comedy mystery series Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in a “case-of-the-week” murder mystery series. The first season boasts a huge slate of guest stars ranging from Tim Blake Nelson to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jameela Jamil, Stephanie Hsu, and many more. The series bagged a renewal earlier in February. The upcoming feature will be executive produced by Ferrell and Elbaum for Gloria Sanchez. Johnson will not be writing or directing the TV comedy but will executive produce with Bergman alongside T-Street’s President of TV Nena Rodrigue.