Netflix is prepping to release the sequel to its end of the year mockumentary Death to 2020 for this year, entitled Death to 2021, and the streamer is reportedly adding a few notable names to the new installment –– including Ted Lasso star and Nick Mohammed.
According to Digital Spy, Mohammed is joined by fellow newcomers William Jackson Harper (The Good Place), Lucy Liu (Elementary), Stockard Channing (The West Wing), and Alistair Green (The Great). Mohammed’s Ted Lasso co-star Samson Kayo will be returning for the show alongside Stranger Things‘ Joe Keery, Paddington 2‘s Hugh Grant, comedian Tracey Ullman, and Mandy‘s Diane Morgan.
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Similar to last year’s show, the new chapter will also take moments from the year and replay archival footage with commentary from various created personalities. The teaser trailer, which Netflix released on Thursday, features Morgan as her character Gemma Nerrick, who awkwardly attempts to give her Zoom date, Geoff (played by Green), a virtual hug.
Created by Black Mirror’s Charlie Brooker, Brooker’s production company Broke and Bones has backed the show again. Though, the outlet reports Brooker has taken a step back to allow Cunk On Britain‘s Ben Caudell to pick up for the writing duties on the show. Annabel Jones, an executive producer on Black Mirror, will also produce on the project.
Safe to say last year’s film didn’t premiere to stellar reviews from critics. “You expect greatness from Brooker, but the jokes here are as predictable as the targets of the jokes, only occasionally rising above the quality of this year’s dreadful Spitting Image reboot. At least that had funny puppets,” The Telegraph wrote of the performance. “The problem is that most of the jokes – and observations – here, we’ve all already made, lazily, on social media, time and time again. Death to 2020 tramps over ground we are at best wearily familiar with, at worst utterly sick of.”
The Independent’s review followed a similar tune. “It’s hard to know what’s happened here. Clearly there’s money behind Death to 2020, given its provenance and the calibre of the contributors. Between Black Mirror and the Wipes – to say nothing of Brooker’s previous career as a critic of acid brilliance – its creators are too good at TV not to know that this is substandard,” it read. “Is it a kind of televisual cash-in-hand plastering job for their bosses at Netflix, who wanted a piece of the Wipe action? Was there meddling from above about its tone and direction? Was there not enough time to apply the usual quality control? Whatever the answer, Death to 2020 is a mess and you’ll be glad when it’s over. In that sense, at least, it’s appropriate to its subject.”
