Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: MST3K, Mystery Science Theater 3000

MST3K Trio Discuss Return Focusing on "Classic Bad" Movies & More

Radial Entertainment reunites Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett for MST3K: The Rifftrax Experiments - with "classic bad" films.

Things have come full circle for Mystery Science Theater 3000 alums Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett, who will return to host the popular series, commenting on the worst of the worst Hollywood has to offer. Following their original stints on the series, which began on KTMA in 1988, the trio launched its "spiritual successor," Rifftrax, in 2006, which provided similar commentary and expanded beyond feature films with educational shorts and TV episodes. With creator (and original star) Joel Hodgson selling the MST3K property rights to Radial Entertainment, which was formed from the merger of Shout! Studios and FilmRise, in January 2026, the company planned to develop more of the beloved sci-fi comedy series, retaining Hodgson as brand ambassador in the process.

Now called MST3K: The Rifftrax Experiments, Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett, along with another fan favorite, Mary Jo Pehl, will all be reprising their respective roles as Mike, Tom Servo/Professor Bobo, Crow/Brain Guy, and Pearl. Also back into the fold are Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff, who will reprise their roles as Dr. Clayton Forrester and his trusty sidekick, Frank, who set Mike up on his journey to watch said terrible films (during the Comedy Channel/Comedy Central era), the series' Kickstarter page announced, now at over $1.7 million. Nelson, Murphy, and Corbett spoke with Variety about where the new series will go: whether they'll skewer classic Hollywood again, focus on modern bombs and cult classics, or mix the two.

MST3K: Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett on Where "The Rifftrax Experiments" Will Go

As far as fan support on Kickstarter that raked in over $1.3 million, " It feels great and vindicating and exciting and a little terrifying. We have to justify that now, and I think we can. But, you know, it's been a while," Corbett said. "It's really nice that even after all this time, people still have a fondness for the show, the way we did the show. And I think that's what we're seeing there," Murphy added.

When it came to the conversations between Rifftrax and Shout! about bringing back MST3K started, "That was at least six months ago, but more, really, I think. Right, guys? Like maybe nine months ago, eight months ago?" Corbett said. "Yeah, it was last year, I think in the spring, but in the meantime, Shout! Factory went through this merger, which sort of delayed things for a while…And they were in the middle of, as everyone learned, acquiring all the rights to the show from Joel," Murphy added. "I just want to make it clear, we are perfectly happy AARP guys. They asked us," Corbett emphasized. "And I think the thing that we came up with that sounds exciting also sounds risky too, like if we don't recapture the magic, or if somebody gets a glimpse of me and goes, "Oh my god, what happened to him?!" Me specifically. But the thing that I think ameliorated it for us was we said, "Can we take a relatively small bite and do four?"

Murphys discussed how the new show will be more of a throwback to how they did the series, "Well, when I first heard that they might want to do this, I talked to our old DP, Jeff Stonehouse…And he said, 'Oh, do it old school. We need to do this old school the way that we did it then.' He was such a wizard at doing in-camera effects," he said. "And then having all our props hand built, and not relying on any sort of digital compositing or green screen beyond what we need to do in order to make the shadow work and go through the doors, simple things like that…It really makes the thing that much more fun for us and for everyone involved, because it's all hands on."

When it comes to the types of movies they'll focus on, "Well, I'd say since we know that we're revisiting 'Mystery Science Theater,' the way that we knew it and loved it, that our eyes are on films that are more like the ones that we used to do — sort of corny, nothing too absolutely current," Murphy said. "Sort of classic bad, if that makes any sense, rather than modern bad…We're casting the net to find just the right bad for us that fits with the puppets, rather than the three of us and our voices. And there is a little bit of a difference there. 'Mystery Science Theater' was always more family-friendly. RiffTrax tends to be a little bit…more out there these days." Adding Nelson, "We hate families at RiffTrax."

MST3K has sustained for the better part of 13 seasons and a film, off and on, across multiple platforms, including KTMA, Comedy Channel, Comedy Central, Sci-Fi (now SYFY), Netflix, and its own platform, Gizmoplex. For more on the trio discussing the 20th anniversary of Rifftrax, how they've sustained on their unique commentary style, and whether they'll explore other platforms like Netflix as was done in seasons 11 and 12, you can check out the entire interview.

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