In 2012 and 2015, Family Guy and American Dad! creator Seth MacFarlane starred in the two Ted movies as the voice of the foul-mouthed eponymous character. Set in contemporary times, those two movies followed along with the hijinks of Mark Wahlberg’s John Bennett and his best friend, who just so happened to be a teddy bear he wished to life as a child. Well, MacFarlane is returning to the world of Ted for a TV series that will be available with a Peacock subscription, and he’s bringing one of his costars from The Orville along with him.
Since 2017, Seth MacFarlane has starred as Captain Ed Mercer on The Orville, which was moved to Hulu after airing its first two seasons on Fox. Among the supporting cast member on that series is Scott Grimes, who plays Lieutenant Gordon Molloy. Now MacFarlane and Grimes are re-teaming for Peacock’s Ted prequel series, which is set in Boston in 1993, when John Bennett is 16 years old and Ted’s moment of fame has long since passed. Grimes will star as Matty Bennett, John’s father, who’s described as a blustering blue-collar Bostonian who sees himself as the unequivocal boss in the family and doesn’t like anyone challenging him, including Blaire, his liberal-minded niece who’s living with the family.
Although they’re seen in live-action together on The Orville, Seth MacFarlane and Scott Grimes go back much further than that. The latter also voices Steve Smith and other assorted characters on American Dad!, as well as voices Kevin Swanson and a handful of other roles on Family Guy. Weirdly enough, in the first Ted movie (which MacFarlane thought would probably flop), John Bennett’s father, played there by Ralph Garman, was named Steve, but I guess MacFarlane felt Matty was a better name for this series.
Scott Grimes is one of three new actors who will be joining Seth MacFarlane on Peacock’s Ted. The role of teen John Bennett is being filled by Parenthood’s Max Burkholder, with the character at this stage of his life being described as a good guy and likable teen, but still in an awkward phase, and he’s relying on Ted to help him navigate adolescence. Then there’s the previously-mentioned Blaire, played by The Punisher’s Giorgia Whigham. Blaire is a politically correct college student who’s not afraid to be outspoken and frequently clashes with her traditionalist family, i.e. cousin John, uncle Matty and aunt Susan, who’s she’s living with while pursuing higher education. There’s no word yet on who’s playing John’s mother Susan (named Helen in the first movie, and played by Alex Borstein).
Behind the scenes, Seth MacFarlane is set to direct, write, co-showrun and executive produce all of the Ted series’ episodes with Paul Corrgian and Brad Walsh, both of whom previously worked on Modern Family and will serve as co-showrunners, writers and executive producers on this Peacock project. The series is being produced by MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door label, and its other executive producers include Eric Huggins, Alana Kleiman and Jason Clark, the latter of whom was a producer on the Ted film series. UCP and MRC Television are also involved with putting the show together.
CinemaBlend will share major updates about the Ted series when they come in, including when it will come out on Peacock. In the meantime, those of you eager to see Seth MacFarlane and Scott Grimes paired together again can do so when The Orville Season 3 premieres on June 2, so make sure your Hulu subscription is in order by then.
