Documentary Now! goes heavy on big-name guest stars in its first trailer for season 3

It’s been two-and-a-half years since IFC last launched a new season of Documentary Now!, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Seth Myers’ uber-specific, loving send-up of the frequently goofy world of non-fiction film. Now the show is coming back for its third season—debuting February 20—and the network has released a new trailer to celebrate its return, showing off the biggest list of guest stars to grace its collection of Helen Mirren-hosted faux-documentaries to date.

Folks like: Owen Wilson and Michael Keaton, both showing up for a parody of cult-crime-investigations like Wild Wild Country; Cate Blanchett, doing her best Maria Abromovic, complete with complaining uterus; and stand-up superstar (and frequent series writer) John Mulaney, giving his exasperated all as a Steven Sondheim stand-in.

Meanwhile, one of the most interesting things about this trailer is who isn’t being touted. While series co-creator Armisen pops up occasionally in the footage, and is prominently listed among the rest of the season’s performers, his opposite number, Bill Hader, notably isn’t. Hader is, of course, incredibly busy at the moment, having just pulled down an Emmy for his work on HBO’s Barry. IFC is still talking up his role in a behind-the-scenes capacity on Documentary Now!, but the trailer’s increased focus on guest-talent suggests that the series’ third season is pivoting away from “Bill and Fred riff on their favorite documentaries” and into something even more ambitious and weird.

 
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