SETH MACFARLANE NEVER met a premise he couldn’t make run and run. His animated sitcoms Family Guy and American Dad! have both been on the air for over 20 years now, and his live-action series The Orville, which originated as a pretty simply Star Trek spoof, has still got fans waiting for a fourth season. Most recently, the writer and actor has brought his movie Ted, about a teddy bear who comes to life following a child’s wish, to the small screen.
Ted and Ted 2 were bawdy comedies about what happens when a boy grows into a man and his best friend is a talking teddy bear who likes to drink, swear and screw as much as the next guy. The Ted series, now streaming on Peacock, takes a slightly different approach: it is a prequel which imagines the earlier adventures of Ted (voiced by McFarlane) and John Bennett (originally played by Mark Wahlberg, now Max Burkholder) in junior high, where the irrepressible Ted’s behavior gets John into trouble.
The series also stars Alanna Ubach (Legally Blonde, Euphoria) and Scott Grimes (ER, American Dad!) as John’s parents, and is narrated, in an odd twist, by Sir Ian McKellen. (In that regard, at least, Ted is in good company: 2023’s Barbie, a similarly Pinocchio-inspired story of a child’s toy brought to life, featured Helen Mirren as the narrator.)
Will Ted return for Season 2?
Seth McFarlane has not ruled out a second season of the show, stating in an interview with The Wrap that it depends on how audiences engage with the series.
“I think we felt after Ted 2 that maybe the appetite for Ted in that forum was not quite as ravenous as it was after the first movie,” he said. “So I don’t know, there would have to be a reason to do it… There has to be an audience for something like this. You don’t want to just keep rehashing the same character if no one’s watching. I guess there’s a lot of that today anyway, but it’s not really our first order of business, there really has to be an appetite.”
Series co-creators Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh have both said that they are “open” to future seasons, and that there are a “ton more stories to explore” as the character of John grows up. “This season is the junior year of high school. You can easily see senior year of high school or the beginnings of college, or what that looks like if it is college or not,” said Corrigan. “I think it’d be great to explore that.”
Given the longevity of MacFarlane’s other TV projects and their continued popularity, the odds look good.
Philip Ellis
Philip Ellis is News Editor at Men’s Health, covering fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV, and he is the author of Love & Other Scams.
