‘Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return’ Couldn’t Have Handpicked Two Better Hosts

The only news bigger than an MST3K revival is the announcement of who will be brought in as hosts of the series and Netflix, the company responsible for the return of the series, has just shared that information. Titled Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return, the series revival will introduce two new hosts eager to provide commentary on the worst of the worst films Hollywood cinema has to offer. Taking on the duties left vacant by creator and star Joel Hodgson will be Jonah Ray (Maron, Fantasy Hospital) and Felicia Day (The Guild, Supernatural).

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return Brings Jonah Ray Back For More B-Movie Mania

Jonah Ray standing in for creator and former host Joel Hodgson may just be the first of many changes for Mystery Science Theater, as it debuts as sort of a reboot tomorrow (April 14) on Netflix. As Bustle reports, Ray will undoubtedly bring his own unique brand of humor to the series, but may also want to establish himself as primary host in other ways. There’s no telling what changes Ray will bring to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 legacy.

Whether Jonah makes drastic changes or not seems rather beside the point however, because, as any faithful MST3K fan knows, this show is more about cheesy movies and off color jokes than it is about aesthetics. Assuming, of course, Mystery Science Theater will still pursue dark, questionable humor in the wake of a politically correct atmosphere.

Essentially, it all comes down to Jonah Ray and whether his brand of humor will endear him to Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans.

For most, this won’t be much of an adjustment. Ray has been involved with the Mystery Science Theater 3000 reboot, since a Kickstarter campaign was launched in early 2015. Even at that time, the series creator mentioned wanting Jonah to take over as host of the show at some point.

Felicia Day Brings Her Own Special Spark To Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return

Yes, Felicia Day is coming to Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return and undoubtedly bringing her immense fan following with her, but Bustle reports that she won’t be appearing as herself. Instead, Ms. Day will be playing Kinga Forrester, suggesting that the rebooted version of the beloved series will have a plot deeper than an earthling forced to watch bad movies by a group of unsupervised robots.

The original MST3K did have a plot of its own, though late comers may have missed it and never noticed anything amiss. In the original Mystery Science Theater 3000, Joel Hodgson’s bosses at Gizmonic Institute took a disliking to him and ultimately schemed to send him into space. Trapped alone in his ship with only a stack of bad B-movies for company, Joel passed the time watching and ridiculing the films, while his bosses back on Earth monitored his brain activity.

Felicia Day’s Kinga Forrester is the commander of the Moon 13 Research Station and the one reponsible for reopening the Mystery Science Theater 3000 research project. For those familiar with Ms. Day, there can be little doubt that she has both the comedic sense and the love for genre films necessary to make this kind of role iconic.

Previously, Felicia has had a recurring role on Supernatural as geek turned hunter Charlie Bradbury and, even before that, Day played Vi on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Both characters gave Day the opportunity to play characters with a duality that enabled them to evolve into something greater.

More recently, Felicia Day has become known for creating and producing a number of web series, geared towards cosplayers and gamers. Among her successes are The Guild, LARPs, and Vaginal Fantasy Book Club.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return debuts on Friday, April 14 on Netflix.

[Featured Image by Netflix]