‘Ted: The Animated Series’ Teaser Brings Back Mark Wahlberg & Amanda Seyfried to the Franchise!! Check It Out!!

Back in March, Ted returned for its second season on Peacock after a two-year gap and gave the Bennett family a fitting sendoff as John and his rude bear pal enjoyed their last days of high school before college. The series has thrived as a prequel to the 2010s blockbuster comedies starring Mark Wahlberg, with its sophomore outing racking up over 1.2 billion minutes watched within seven weeks of release and becoming the top comedy on television in that time by Nielsen’s ratings. Despite being beloved by critics and audiences and being one of the streamer’s biggest series to date, creator and star Seth MacFarlane has said there were “no plans” at the time to continue the sitcom with Season 3 and onward. However, he’s far from done with his talking stuffed animal.

It was announced last year that MacFarlane would return to his adult animation expertise with Ted: The Animated Series, which will leave John and Ted’s past behind to return to their adult years. Alongside his Ted co-showrunners and executive producers Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh, the Family Guy creator will pick up 12 years after the events of Ted 2 as the thunder-buddies navigate the trials of adulthood as husbands with families and dead-end jobs. Now neighbors, they’re always willing to lend an ear, smoke a joint, or enable each other’s worst ideas about marriage, parenting, or whatever else is on their minds. Most exciting of all, however, was the confirmation that MacFarlane would reunite with his main movie cast at last, including Wahlberg as John, Amanda Seyfried as Sam, and Jessica Barth as Tami-Lynn.

After a long wait for some official news, Peacock has now confirmed that John and the bear he wished to life will be back on the platform before the year’s end. Ted: The Animated Series will drop all eight episodes of its first season on December 17, with additional episodes to follow sometime in 2027. Accompanying the release date was the first official teaser, showing John and Ted in 2D animated form for the first time and teasing the possibilities of what they can do now that they’re loose from the bounds of live-action reality. Unfortunately for John, the animators are cruel and not only make him injure himself on a backflip, but also drop an anvil on him, Looney Tunes style. If that’s the sort of slapstick they’re doing for the announcement, as Ted says, “This is gonna be fun.“

‘Ted: The Animated Series’ Welcomes Two Newcomers to the Family

While the Ted series was viewed as a breath of fresh air for MacFarlane that married raunchy comedy with some surprising heart, the new animated show will look to keep that same spirit while returning to what made Ted so beloved in the first place. The first film’s release in 2012 was warmly received with a $549 million global box office haul, and while the sequel wasn’t quite as highly praised, it still earned a respectable $216 million. In addition to the returning stars, Saturday Night Live alum and Y2K helmer Kyle Mooney is coming aboard as Apollo, while Liz Richman, who appeared in the live-action show as Polly, will lend her voice to Ruth. Rough Draft Studios, which has worked on Futurama, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Disenchantment, and more, is handling the animation.