Fans of So I Married an Axe Murderer — perhaps Mike Myers’s most underappreciated film — can and should rejoice. One of the film’s best bits (if you are asking me, which you are) is being developed into an entire Netflix limited series by Myers himself, who will play seven different characters over six episodes. But that’s not all! The series will also have some actors in it who are not Mike Myers. Ken Jeong, Keegan-Michael Key, Debi Mazar, Richard McCabe, and Lydia West will co-star in the series, as well as Jennifer Saunders. That’s right, the Jennifer Saunders. As in the fairy godmother, as in this is now also kinda sorta a Shrek 2 reunion, if you are asking me (which, again, you are).
The latest trailer for the series opens with Rob Lowe standing in front of some Illuminati symbols and addressing the camera: “Congratulations! You’ve just been kidnapped into the world’s oldest and most effective secret society of five men.†With that, he introduces just some of the many Myerses populating the series. There’s Lord Lordington, the old guy; Bruce Baldwin, a Murdoch-esque “former Australian media mogul†with too much tan; Mishu Ivanov, an ex–Russian oligarch who is giving some unfortunate Love Guru flashbacks; Shep Gordon, a music manager in a Hawaiian shirt; and the secret society’s latest recruit, a gormless Canadian. Myers also plays at least three other guys in this global-domination conspiracy plot, giving off major Dr. Evil vibes. But don’t get it twisted. This isn’t the secret organization to which Beyoncé and “Jay-Zed†belong. It’s the Pentaverate, premiering May 5.
Netflix has previously been pretty mum about the project, and it’s now clear why. The Pentaverate is about a secret society that has been working to control world events since 1347. That is, of course, a theory first originated by Stuart Mackenzie, father of Charlie Mackenzie, both of whom were played by Mike Myers in the 1993 film. In one of the film’s best scenes, Stuart regales Charlie’s best friend, Tony, with his knowledge of this secret society, made up of the five wealthiest people in the world: the queen, the Vatican, the Gettys, the Rothschilds, and “Colonel Sanders before he went tits up.†While the Netflix announcement does not mention it being based specifically on this joke, it very clearly obviously is, it’s just that the Pentaverate doesn’t want us to know it — and they run everything in the world, including the newspapers!