It's been a year and a half since the characters on Glee sang their last tune, but one of the show's Emmy-winning stars, Jane Lynch, hasn't stayed idle since hanging up her character Sue Sylvester's iconic tracksuit. In 2015, she starred in her own CBS sitcom, Angel From Hell , as the world's worst guardian angel, and that was in addition to her the hosting gig at NBC's Hollywood Game Night that she's held down since 2013. The latter even helped her win two more Emmy Awards. Now, even with those roles, Lynch isn't slowing down: According to Entertainment Weekly, the actor is set to star in Netflix's next original property, the Christopher Guest movie Mascots .
The film — which, based off its trailer, seems to follow the style of Guest's previous improv-heavy mockumentaries like Best In Show and Waiting For Guffman — promises to introduce audiences to a cast of oddball sports mascots, each who are competing for the Gold Fluffy Award at the World Mascot Association championship. Lynch plays a judge named Robin who, with her eyeglasses and her frumpy clothes, seems to be a far cry from the brassy, loud-mouthed cheerleading coach the actor played for six years on Glee. (One thing the two characters do have in common is a apparently a bit of a mean streak, though: in the trailer, Robin asserts that she gets to read the name of the winner because "I got more applause than you did.")
Of course, Lynch is far from the only reason Mascots is worth streaming when it debuts on Netflix in fall 2017. Fans of Guest's previous movies likely won't need convincing to watch this one, but for the uninitiated, I'd like to point out that there are plenty of reasons to tune in. First of all, there's the fact that it's premiering on Netflix; that brand recognition alone should ensure that Mascots reaches a wider audience than if had been released in theaters. (The streaming service is coming off a huge surge of goodwill in this post-Stranger Things era, after all.)
Then, there's the fact that the majority of each movie Guest makes is improvised rather than scripted, something that always provides for a free-wheeling sense of "anything can happen" zaniness. This is ideal, considering movie is about sports mascots competing for a trophy. Like, come on; that's ripe for some comedy gold right there.
And of course there's the terrific cast itself, which includes not just veterans of Guest's previous work like Lynch, Parker Posey (Superman Returns), Chris O'Dowd (Bridesmaids), Jennifer Coolidge (Legally Blonde), Ed Begley, Jr. (Better Call Saul), and Fred Willard (Modern Family), but also hilarious new additions like Zach Woods (Silicon Valley) and Sarah Baker (Louie). Oh, and for Guest aficionados, there's the promise of the director himself making an appearance as Corky St. Clair, the fussy community theater director he portrayed in Guffman. (You can catch a quick glimpse of him in the trailer; I wonder what he's been up to since directing Red, White, And Blaine?)
Mascots will be available for streaming on Friday, Oct. 13. In the meantime, if you haven't seen them already, do yourself a favor and watch Best In Show and Waiting For Guffman in preparation. (Or, if you have seen them, rewatch them, because let's be real, they never get old.)
Images: Scott Garfield/Netflix (2)
