Dan Harmon, the creator of “Community” and co-creator of “Rick & Morty,” has joined the reboot of “Mystery Science Theater 3000” as a guest writer, “MST3K” creator Joel Hodgson announced Wednesday.
Harmon is one of several guest writers joining the Kickstarter-funded revival of the cult TV series. Others include Justin Roiland (“Rick & Morty”); Rob Schrab (“The Lego Movie Sequel”); Nell Scovell (“The Muppet Show”); Ernie Cline (“Ready Player One”); Pat Rothfuss (“The Name of Wind”); musical act Paul & Storm; comedian Dana Gould and EGOT winner Robert Lopez (“Book of Mormon,” “Frozen”).
In addition, veteran “MST3K” staffers will also return, including composer Charlie Erickson, prop designer Beez McKeever, makeup artist Crist Ballas, and writer Paul “Pitch” Chaplin.
The announcement came just as the Kickstarter campaign crossed the $4.4 million mark, meaning Hodgson and company will produce at least nine new episodes of the show. The goal is to raise $5.5 million to create 12 episodes total.
Most recently, Patton Oswalt joined the project to write and play TV’s Son of TV’s Frank, the offspring of the character TV’s Frank from the original show, as played by Frank Conniff. Other new cast members include Felicia Day, Hampton Yount, Baron Vaughn, and Jonah Ray.
The “Mystery Science Theater 3000” Kickstarter campaign to relaunch the cult TV series hit its initial $2 million funding goal after just six days.
The series, which launched on a Minneapolis UHF station in 1988, featured Hodgson and later Mike Nelson and two robot sidekicks as they riffed on cheesy B-movies by providing their own hilarious commentary.
It then moved to Comedy Central and finished its run on the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) in 1999 after 197 episodes.