Peacock has unveiled the premiere date, first-look images, and a brief tease of its upcoming “event series” Ted, a prequel for Seth MacFarlane’s films about the raunchy talking teddy bear.
1993 Ted, you are going to love the internet.#ted the event series is coming Jan 11 to Peacock. pic.twitter.com/53kDNKNeFs
— Peacock (@peacock) November 16, 2023
All seven episodes of the series, a “R-rated nostalgic journey back to the ‘90s,” will premiere on Peacock on Jan. 11, 2024. MacFarlane is returning to voice the foul-mouthed stuffed animal, in addition to serving as executive producer, writer, director, and co-showrunner. It’ll follow Ted and John Bennett, played by Mark Wahlberg in the films, as John’s 16 years old, navigating being a teenager in Boston.
Max Burkholder (Parenthood), Alanna Ubach (Euphoria), Scott Grimes (The Orville), and Giorgia Whigham (13 Reasons Why) will round out the cast.
“It takes place in the nineties but is based on the timeless truth that being sixteen sucks,” MacFarlane and executive producers/writers/co-showrunners Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh said in a joint note to fans. “The only thing that makes it tolerable is going through it with a friend, even if that friend is a has-been magical teddy bear with a foul mouth and a proclivity for drug use."
The brief teaser video released along with the announcement pokes fun at the prequel aspect of it all – as well as the streaming platform it’s on – as Ted writes a letter to his future self in 1993.
“If you’re reading this, it means we’ve got a new series on the most successful streaming platform ever,” the 1993 version of Ted writes in the teaser.
“Eh,” responds 2023 Ted, “we got a new series.”
You can also see a few first-look stills below.
The first Ted movie was released all the way back in 2012 to mostly positive reviews and enough box office success to lead to 2015’s Ted 2. IGN gave that sequel a 6.8/10, writing that “may not have as many laughs or as good a story to tell as the original, but Ted 2 isn't entirely empty either.”
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
