There’s at least one thing to be thankful for this Turkey Day that doesn’t even count eating a metric tone of potatoes and bread products. Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return, otherwise known as the revived version of Mystery Science Theater 3000 made possible by crowdfunding that launched on Netflix, has been renewed by the streaming service giant for a second/12th season! That means more of Jonah Heston, Crow T. Robot, Tom Servo, Gypsy, Kinga Forrester, TV’s Son of TV’s Frank, and every other weird and wacky character from Moon 13: The Moon.
The announcement was made at the end of MST3K‘s 2017 Turkey Day marathon on Shout! Factory by creator Joel Hodgson and new series stars Jonah Ray and Felicia Day.
It seemed a gargantuan, unfathomable prospect for MST3K to come back after an absence of 18 years following its cancellation in 1999, after 197 episodes on Comedy Central and Syfy (nee The Sci-Fi Channel), but return it did, thanks entirely to a majorly successful Kickstarter campaign in 2016. The campaign raised so much money, the team was able to make 14 new episodes, which were eventually picked up by Netflix for distribution. This was followed by a nationwide “Watch Out for Snakes” live tour.
There was some worry that Netflix might not pick up the series, despite receiving 100% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and almost uniformly good fan reaction, because, unlike most Netflix original series, it’s not super easy to binge a season of Mystery Science Theater. Lucky for us MSTies, though, the response was enough to warrant making more, and long may the new Satellite of Love reign.
As of now, the release date given for the next new season is “the not-too-distant future” but we hope that means late 2018. Hope, hope, hope.
Let us know your thoughts on more MST3K in the comments below!
Images: Shout Factory/Netflix
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
Get a look back at MST3K season 11!
- Why we think the new MST3K didn’t lose a step!
- Creator Joel Hodgson on making the show the same, but different!
- How the new season was made!
