Netflix just ordered a new comedy series that reunites The Good Place creator Mike Schur with star Ted Danson. Danson will star in a new sitcom based on the 2020 Chilean documentary The Mole Agent, which was about a private investigator going undercover as a patient at a nursing home to work on a case. Danson will reportedly play Charles, a retired man taking on a similar assignment.
This untitled project comes from Universal Television and Universal Studio Group and has reportedly been the subject of a serious bidding war. However, according to a report by Deadline Netflix has finally won out and ordered 8 episodes straight to series. Schur, Danson, Morgan Sackett and David Miner will all executive produce the series, while Schur will oversee the writing. There’s no word yet on when the series might go into production or when fans will be able to see it for themselves.
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The original documentary was about a private investigator names Rรณmulo who was hired by a woman to investigate the nursing home where her mother lived in El Monte, Chile. The client believed that her mother was being mistreated by the staff at the nursing home, so Rรณmulo hired an elderly man named Sergio to go undercover as a new resident. While there, Sergio forged close friendships with the other residents and even learned many of their secrets, all without letting them know that he was there under false pretenses.
Assuming the TV series follows a similar structure, Danson’s character Charles will likely be analogous to Sergio. That means another star will be needed to play a character like Rรณmulo, while the rest will be filled with nursing home staff and residents. However, the show may stray from the movie’s story to keep suspense alive and inject some comedy where it can.
The Mole Agent won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature in 2021, and it was selected as Chile’as entry in the Best International Feature Film category. It was directed by Maite Alberdi. The movie is available to stream now on Hulu in the U.S. for those interested.
Schur and Danson worked together on the beloved NBC sitcom The Good Place which aired from 2016 to 2020. Like other network sitcoms, the show got a huge portion of its overall audience on Netflix after the fact. Viewers binge-watched the show there between seasons or after it ended. It is still streaming there but is also available on NBC’s in-house streaming service Peacock. As for Schur and Danson’s fresh take on The Mole Agent, there is no word yet on when it might become available.
