“Now, more than ever, the world needs Documentary Now!” Helen Mirren proclaims in a new trailer released for Season 4 of the series of parody documentaries. IFC’s hit comedy is nearly ready to portray powerful, deeply human stories yet again after three years away from the world of documentaries, and the new trailer hypes up its highly-anticipated return. Flashing plenty of stars and teasing out the “painstakingly curated” tales of our world, it promises a bigger-than-ever run of episodes to come with the newest season on October 19 on IFC.
The trailer starts off with the reveal that this is not, in fact, the Season 4 trailer, but rather the Season 53 trailer of the American institution known as Documentary Now! Series host Mirren reintroduces the series with the gravitas that such a storied show deserves, while the clips shown in between tease what sort of films the long-running legacy franchise will present this time. The show parodies documentaries of all eras and styles, starting with one uncomfortable story of a man’s creepily close relationship with a monkey. From shirtless men hurling rocks at each other to one man’s mistaken entry into an arthouse theater, the stories are marketed as essential to the human condition with Mirren emphasizing just how important the series has been to Americans everywhere.
Season 53 (aka 4) boasts another superstar cast that includes Alexander Skarsgård, Nicholas Braun, August Diehl, Cate Blanchett, Harriet Walter, Liliane Rovère, Jamie Demetriou, and Jonathan Pryce among others. The series is created by an acclaimed quartet of comedy in Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and Rhys Thomas with SNL‘s Lorne Michaels executive producing and Broadway Video producing. The show has been stellar at bringing in marquee talent with past seasons including Daryl Hall, Tim Robinson, Alana Haim, Michael Keaton, and Owen Wilson among many more.
Before the six new episodes of the hit series are shown to the world, attendees at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival got a chance to see the two-part premiere episode of the series, “Soldier of Illusion.” With the series present at the festival that started it all, Collider’s own Steve Weintraub talked with Amisen, Thomas, and executive producer Alex Buono about the series during which they revealed all the stories will take place in the U.K. and that Blanchett had actually inspired one of the episodes with her pitch of 3 Salons by the Seaside as a documentary worth parodying for the series.
Documentary Now! makes its return for Season 4 on October 19 with a two-episode premiere on IFC. New episodes will also arrive on AMC+ with a three-episode premiere slated for the streamer. Check out the new trailer below.
