It’s official. Mats is back.
Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff are set to star in the upcoming revival of Mystery Science Theater 3000, starring original series alums and RiffTrax stars Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett.
The announcement was made on Revival’s Kickstarter page on Tuesday. Beaulieu and Conniff will reprise their roles as Dr. Clayton Forrester and the legendary Frank from Second Banana TV in the fourth and final episode of the new show, and Beaulieu and Conniff will also co-write the episode.
News of Beaulieu and Conniff’s return comes a day after the team revealed that one of the films featured in the new episodes will be the 1978 film Death Sport starring David Carradine.
Both Beaulieu and Conniff had major roles on the original show, both in front of and behind the camera. Beaulieu joined the show from the beginning as a writer and played Dr. Forrester and Crow T. Robot for eight seasons (including the original KTMA days) and feature films. Conniff was also a writer on the show and played Frank on TV from seasons two through six.
They remained in the movie riffing game even after leaving the show, co-starring with other MST3K alumni as part of Cinematic Titanic and launching the touring show The Muds Are Back. Conniff and Beaulieu have also worked with the RiffTrax team several times.
As previously reported, RiffTrax and Shout! Studios have teamed up to produce four new episodes of MST3K. Nelson, Murphy and Corbett will serve as creative leads on the new episode, officially titled “Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments.” Nelson will reprise his on-screen role as Mike Nelson, Murphy will once again play Tom Servo and Professor Bobo, and Corbett will once again play Crow T. Robot and Brain Guy. Additionally, original series star Mary Jo Pearl will return as Pearl Forrester.
Production will take place in Minneapolis, where the original show was filmed, and episodes will be released on the RiffTrax website later this year. The Kickstarter campaign raised more than $1 million within its first day.
