Peacock has debuted the official teaser trailer for Twisted Metal, an upcoming half-hour live-action series based on the classic PlayStation game series.
A day after releasing the first poster for Twisted Metal, Peacock has dropped the show’s first teaser, featuring John Doe (Captain America: Civil War‘s Anthony Mackie) preparing for his latest road trip. The teaser takes the audience through the character’s motions, which include starting his weaponized car, reloading his shotgun and inserting his “Road Mix” into the car’s CD player. “Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines,” says Mackie’s John Doe before taking off down the road while “Steal My Sunshine” by Len begins to play through the car’s speakers. The teaser ends with a brief glimpse at the deranged killer clown Sweet Tooth, who will be physically portrayed by AEW wrestler Samoa Joe in the show with Will Arnett providing the character’s voice.
Twisted Metal was first announced in February 2021 with Peacock officially ordering the action to series one year later. Kitao Sakurai directed multiple episodes of the upcoming adaptation, which is based on an original take by Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and written by Michael Jonathan Smith (Cobra Kai). In Twisted Metal, “a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a badass axe-wielding car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck,” reads the official series description.
Twisted Metal Writer Hypes Upcoming Adaptation
Alongside the first trailer, Peacock released a statement from Smith which discusses both his love of the Twisted Metal franchise and what fans can expect from the upcoming series. “The year was 2001. Weezer had welcomed fans to an Island in the Sun. Shrek was an all-star at the box office. Pizza Hut had delivered a salami pizza to the International Space Station. And I was a sixteen year old nerd who had just purchased Twisted Metal: Black,” recalled the writer. “The second I inserted that disc into my PlayStation 2, I was transported to a chaotic demolition derby that left me cackling with glee at the chaos of it all. That inescapable feeling of joy is what I wanted to bring to life in our show.”
He continued, “Yes, TWISTED METAL has the cars, it has the weapons, and it has the battles. But what it also has are people. I know you will fall in love with these characters and what drives them, no pun intended (okay, maybe a little intended). […] This is a bonkers show about insiders and outsiders, and how our own special apocalypse has divided and isolated us more than ever. But there’s hope. You can find your people and your community. You may just have to get past a terrifying clown driving a well-armed ice cream truck to find them. Buckle up.”
Besides Mackie, Samoa Joe and Arnett, Twisted Metal stars Stephanie Beatriz and Thomas Haden Church as Quiet and Agent Stone, respectively. Guest stars for the first season include Neve Campbell as Raven, Richard Cabral as Quiet’s brother Loud, Mike Mitchell as Stu, Tahj Vaughans as Stu’s best friend Mike and Lou Beatty Jr. as grizzled and weathered cartographer Tommy.
Twisted Metal premieres on Peacock on July 27. The first season will consist of 10 episodes.
